Soul Gem is Unbreakable
by beefskellington
Summary: What happens when a group of magical girls meet a group of fabulous stand users? A bizarre adventure happens! When Kyoko Sakura meets a man with strange powers and even stranger hair, the town of Mitakihara gets targeted by forces that threaten to destroy humanity. *Potential spoilers for both series*
1. The Beginning of a Bizarre Adventure

**Hey everyone, this my first time on this site, and this is my first time attempt at writing something that isn't an essay. I wanted to write stories for a long time, and I figure a harmless little crossover would be a good place to start practicing.**

**Anyway a little intro about this fic: I wanted to do a Madoka/Jojo's Bizarre Adventure crossover ever since I saw those hilarious and terrifying crossover pics at Gelbooru. And with the airing of the new Stardust Crusaders, what better time to do it than now?**

**As for the specifics, this crossover takes place 4 years after the events of Diamond is Unbreakable and during a timeline similar to the one in A Different Story where Mami survived her encounter with Charlotte but Sayaka still became a witch.**

**Chapter 1 - The beginning of a bizarre adventure**

* * *

Kyoko Sakura stood on top of her spear, her hands clasped in prayer.  
She is a puella magi, a magical girl who hunts terrifying creatures known as witches.  
And in front of her is the last witch she will ever fight: a witch named Oktavia that was formerly a fellow magical girl named Sayaka Miki.

"Don't worry Sayaka...I know you don't want to be alone…"

Kyoko was gathering all the strength she had left, ready to destroy both the witch and herself. Although she only knew Sayaka for a short time, and frankly they did not get along well, she felt a sort of kinship with her. The truth was Kyoko herself felt alone for a long period of time since the death of her family and the alienation of the only friend and mentor she ever had. She could at least make up for it by offering her own life so that Sayaka's own loneliness can be subsided, if only by a little.

_In a few moments it would all be over._

Or so Kyoko thought, until she heard a voice.

"What the hell kind of place is this?"

Her concentration suddenly broken, Kyoko looked down and was surprised to see the last thing she'd expect to be in the witch's barrier: A strange man with a pompadour.  
The man wore what looked like a student uniform, albeit decorated with hearts and peace signs. He was carrying a traveler's bag and was looking over a tourist map. The man grumbled, ""What the hell kind of place is this?"

Kyoko was stupefied and frustrated. How could a bystander wander into a witch barrier at a time like this?

Suddenly the witch attacked, knocking Kyoko off her spear. Her wounds opened up and she yelped in pain. She closed her eyes as she hit the ground. But just as the pain started it ended just as quick. She opened her eyes to see the pompadoured man standing beside her.

The man spoke,"Hey you okay? Those injuries looked pretty nasty, especially for a kid your age. Where are we anyway? Looks like a really weird art show…then again I'm not Rohan so who am I to judge."

Kyoko just stared at the man and thought,

_Who is this guy? How can he be so calm when there's a witch right there? Is he that dense?_

But before Kyoko could say a word, Oktavia raised her sword and was about to cleave both her and the pompadoured stranger in half.

_Damn._

Kyoko's reflexes worked in overdrive, preparing to summon her spear to deflect the attack. But just as she summoned her weapon out of thin air, something bizarre happened.

The witch's blade stopped just a few inches from the pompadour man's head, as if frozen in place. Kyoko looked up at the witch. It looked like it was struggling to move its arm and was using all its strength to finish the blow, but it just could not. As if some other force was holding it back.

The man suddenly said "Hey mermaid asshole, I don't know who your 「user」 is, but I don't like my hair being touched…"

Kyoko directed her attention back to the man. There was now a expression of rage on the man's face. Above his hair was the witch's weapon, and Kyoko could now see clearly there were indentations that on its surface. Indentations in the shape of human fingers.

A single strand of hair dropped down from the stranger's head.

What happened next completely took Kyoko by surprise. In what amounted to no more than a few seconds at most, the witch's blade was snapped into pieces and the witch was blown back with tremendous force. Large fist-sized craters suddenly appearing all over its body.

And just as all this were happening, Kyoko could have sworn she heard a faint sound of someone yelling,

**_"DORARARARARARARARARARA! DORA!"_**

The blows came from an unseen source, but Kyoko knew it was somehow the man doing all of this. The pompadoured stranger stood in front of the witch just as its body was pulverized into pieces in front of him.

Kyoko could barely move. She was struggling to register all the things she had seen. W_ho or what was this man? How did he destroy that witch without moving? Why is his hairstyle so unfashionable?_

The man moved towards her.

"Kid, I have no idea why the stand was attacking you but we better get out of here. The stand's 「user 」might still be around." The man looked down at Kyoko's spear, "Ah! You a stand user as well?"

Kyoko did not hear his last sentence. She quickly jumped to her feet and brought the spear to the man's neck. The man was taken by surprise.

"You..you killed her! You killed Sayaka!" yelled Kyoko

The man looked confused. "Killed her?"

Kyoko pressed the spear hard against the man's clavicle. The man flinched slightly.

"Who are you?! How did you...that!?" said Kyoko, pointing at the rubble. In her career as a puella magi, she learned that only magical girls can defeat witches. Ordinary humans had no chance. _Supposedly_ had no chance. Yet here was a man, who was clearly not a magical girl, and he was able to dispatch the witch without even touching it. Her mind raced with questions.

"Hey easy kid, I just got this uniform fresh from the dry clean-" the man said, but was cut off mid-sentence when the whole barrier began to shake and collapse.

"Aw damnit, first my hair, then a crazy girl with two stands, and now an earthquake?" the man moaned. Kyoko wasted no time. She wrapped the spear around the man, much to his surprise, and threw him through the exit. Then she jumped across to the exit herself. She could have left the man there to die crushed under rubble as revenge for Sayaka, but she realized: 1) It was better to question him and 2) a man who can defeat a witch without moving could probably survive a collapsing witch's barrier.

She dragged the man and herself outside of the train station just as a large BOOM noise echoed throughout the rest of the complex, signaling the witch's barrier has finished collapsing.

The pompadoured stranger stood up, with the spear still wrapped around him, looking at the debris inside the station.

"Uh..thanks kid. But for the record I could've gotten out of there myself... "

"Shut up. You still have a lot of questions to answer." Kyoko said. Suddenly, a clinking noise attracted her attention. The noise came from near the wreckage of the station and she looked down to find its source: a tiny ovular object that dropped from the wreckage to the floor.

Kyoko's first thought was that it was a grief seed, a item of magical energy that are dropped by witches upon their death. But as she moved closer to inspect, what she saw was not a grief seed but a small egg-shaped gemstone, glowing a magnificent blue. Kyoko picked up the object and stared at it in awe. It was a soul gem, the container for a magical girl's life force and the source of their magic. And it was not just any soul gem, it was Sayaka Miki's.

Kyoko thought to herself, _T__hen...this must mean...Sayaka is alive?_

"Hey um...kid. If you're not gonna let me go, I could just...you know...break out of here myself," said the man behind her.

Kyoko stared back at the pompadoured stranger. A thought suddenly clicked in her head.

_This guy...can he bring magical girls back from being witches?_

* * *

High above on a rooftop, the white cat-like creature named Kyubey was surveying the scene below, studying the strange human with the even stranger hair style who was talking to one of his contractees, Kyoko Sakura.

Kyubey is a member of the alien race known as incubators, whose mission is to prevent the heat death of the universe by harvesting the energy released from the emotions of young girls. To do this, he and his kind devised the magical system. But now this system was in jeopardy.

"Impossible. A human with the power to restore witches back to magical girls. I have never encountered such a phenomenon before," Kyubey said to himself as he saw Kyoko picking up what seems to be a perfectly healed soul gem from the rubble.

"This is a most interesting phenomenon indeed. The human mentioned something about 「stands」. I must look into these things called 「stands」."

With that, the incubator disappeared off into the night.

* * *

Mitakihara Central Port - 10:14 PM

It was a windy night in Mitakihara town, a metropolis with a constantly growing economy.

The town is known for its architecture which is based on buildings and landmarks all across the world, making it a popular stop for tourists. The Morning Rescue headquarters is also located here. The town is not without its dark side, having a large number of missing persons cases that have yet to be solved.

Off of Mitakihara's central port, a research boat with the words "SPEEDWAGON FOUNDATION" emblazoned on its bow was floating along the water. Two men in khaki SPW uniforms were busy hauling aboard a large circular object on board with a crane. The object was a light brown metallic gear the size of a rai stone.

"What the hell is this thing?" said one of the men.

"No idea." replied the other.

"Is this the reason why Professor Kujo asked us to investigate this place? I thought we were just supposed to be studying the strange weather patterns."

"Speaking of Professor Kujo, isn't his nephew in town? "

"Josuke? That's his uncle. And yeah he's got an internship at a hospital here...or something like that."

The man looked at his colleague in confusion. "...Uncle? He's at least 10 years younger than Mr. Kuj-…"

But before the man could finish the sentence, the gear vibrated.

Both men were startled. "What the-" one of them uttered. The other moved closer to the gear to inspect it. He touched the surface of the gear and strangely it was not cold, but rather warm, despite the fact it was just recently fished out of the ocean. As he moved to the other side of the gear he stopped in his tracks.

"What? What is it?" asked his colleague.

On the other side of the gear was a woman with two oversized horns jutting out from the sides of her head. She was unconscious and imprisoned in the gear itself, as if the metal of the gear and the flesh of the woman were one and the same. Surrounding her and also engraved into the gear were a dozen stone masks.

The same kind of stone masks that nearly ruined the world decades before.

**TO BE CONTINUED **

*que Roundabout*

* * *

**That's it for the first chapter. Hope y'all liked it. Feedback more than appreciated.**

**Note: A rai stone is a large circular stone used as currency in certain places on the Micronesian Islands. **


	2. A Very Very Different Story

**Chapter 2 - A very very different story**

* * *

_Good morning and welcome to the Mitakihara Morning News._

_Our top story today is the discovery of an abandoned research vessel that was found drifting near Mitakihara's central port. _

_The vessel, belonging to the eponymous Speedwagon Foundation, was discovered by authorities around 5:00 AM. The ship was found to be completely devoid of life, its crew of two researchers nowhere to be found. The only evidence of their presence were two SPW hats sighted on the deck and two untouched cups of coffee discovered inside the cabin. _

_Of particular note is the presence of a large gear-like object attached to the boat's crane. The mysterious object was found with a deep, roughly human-sized depression in the center surrounded by several smaller ovular depressions. The object is currently being held by Mitakihara authorities until it will be transferred to the SPW later this day for further analysis. _

_In other news, 14-year old Sayaka Miki was found in a hotel room asleep. When woken up by hotel staff, the middle school student remarked she had no idea how she got there and her last memory was of her at a train station..._

* * *

7:00 AM - Homura's Apartment

Miracles come in many different forms, but all miracles have one constant: they defy any science or logic. Miracles follow no rules and no schedules, and no can truly predict when a miracle will happen. It is the lawless, unreliable nature of miracles that have caused certain people of society to disbelieve in them. People like Homura Akemi.

The cold, aloof magical girl used to be a different person: she was shy, nervous, and had very apparent self-esteem issues. These characteristics made her a target of gossip on her first day at Mitakihara Middle School and at certain point, she began to feel as if her existence was useless. But that all changed when she met Madoka Kaname, a magical girl who would soon become her best friend. Madoka taught Homura how to believe in herself, and in turn Homura saw Madoka as both a role-model and someone whom she can trust. The two formed an unbreakable bond.

The day Homura became a magical girl was the same day she saw her best friend die before her eyes. Madoka was struck down by a very powerful witch known as Walpurgis Night, and Homura lost the only friend she ever had. That was when she decided then and there to make a contract with Kyubey to become a magical girl, in return for the wish to re-do her meeting with Madoka in order to deter her from her terrible fate. The wish was granted, and Homura was given vast chronokinetic abilities as a magical girl. She traveled back in time in order to save her friend, but to no avail. Madoka ended up suffering an even worse fate; turning into the witch known as Kriemhild Gretchen.

Homura stubbornly refused to give up. She continually traveled back again. And again. And again. And every time she saw Madoka suffer the same terrible fates. At a certain point, saving Madoka became an obsession for Homura, an obsession that transformed her from a shy, nervous girl to one who was distant, calculating and alienating to those around her. She became a girl who lost faith in miracles.

But something last night that Homura did not expect. She had just rescued Madoka, who has yet to become a magical girl in this timeline, from the clutches of Sayaka's witch form, an event she's seen play out several times before. Sayaka Miki turns into a witch, Kyoko Sakura loses her life, and Madoka Kaname gets closer to despair. Homura had seen it all happen in other timelines and it seemed this timeline was turning out to be no different. That was until Kyoko ran up to her, despite the fact she was clearly supposed to be dead. But what surprised Homura was not the fact that Kyoko was alive, but that she was also carrying another soul gem with her: the soul gem belonging to Sayaka Miki.

Thinking back to last night, Homura began to replay in her mind the conversation she had with Kyoko. It was a conversation she would never forget…

"_Hey wait up!"_

"_Kyoko? You made it out alive…but I thought your soul gem was depleted?"_

"_That's what I wanted to talk to you about! Take a look at this!"_

"_Is that...impossible! Kyoko where did you get that! Sayaka...Sayaka was turned into a witch! "_

"_I know! I know! But something bizarre happened! A man turned her back!"_

"_...a man?"_

"_Yup. He sure as hell ain't a magical girl, especially with that hair. And I talked to him afterwards. Apparently he had a...a thingy."_

"_...a thingy?"_

"_Yeah, a thingy. I think he called it a stand or something like that...I don't remember! But he explained that whatever it was, it can restore objects to previous states! He can fix soul gems and turn witches back into magical girls! Heck, he was even nice enough clean my soul gem!"_

"_That's ridiculous...a power like that does not exist in this world…"_

"_Lighten up will ya? This is the first good news we've had ever since all the other bad crap that's happened…"_

"_Kyoko...this man you're talking about...don't you think he's even a little bit suspicious?"_

"_...hmmm?" Whaddya mean?"_

"_He just happens to walk into this town as Sayaka turns into a witch, and then miraculously changes her back to a magical girl using a power we've never heard of before."_

"_Eh...he seems like a nice guy. After all he gave me free Rocky."_

"_..."_

"_Why are you giving me that look?"_

"_...Nothing...it's just, I'm not at all surprised you get convinced so easily by free food…"_

"_HEY! What's that supposed ta mean!? *sigh*…Look... if you won't take my word for it, why don't you meet him yourself? He's called Josuke and he's interning at the same hospital where Sayaka's dumb crush was staying in. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to put this in the hotel room where I left that lovable idiot…"_

...And that was all Kyoko said before she set off.

Done reminiscing about last night, Homura was back to the task of studying the many holographic displays that were floating around in her apartment. They were all displaying the Mitakihara Morning News.

Rarely did Homura bother to watch the news media. She probably knew more about the events surrounding the town than the journalists themselves. But today was different. There was a news story that caught her attention: the discovery of a confused middle school girl who mysteriously found herself in a hotel room. The news report showed the girl being interviewed in front of her home, and Homura instantly recognized who the girl was: it was Sayaka Miki, in the flesh.

_Seems like Sayaka really did turn back,_ Homura thought. _But still...I don't trust this Josuke person. The power to revert witches back to the magical girls they once were before...miracles like that can't possibly exist. _

Homura Akemi was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. She turned off all the displays and walked out of her apartment. She wanted to meet this Josuke person herself, to see if Kyoko's claims are true. And if she had to use force to coax Josuke into performing a miracle in front of her, then so be it.

* * *

7:00 AM - Kaname Residence

Madoka Kaname could barely sleep last night and woke up in a dejected mood. She remembered Sayaka Miki turning into a witch and attacking her. She was nearly killed by her own friend. And to top it all off, she remembered what Kyubey told her; that magical girls eventually will turn into witches and that they were all being manipulated. This was much for a young girl to take in, and Madoka struggled to get out of bed. Finally finding the will to do so, she got dressed and went about performing her morning routine before walking downstairs to join her family for breakfast.

Once downstairs, she saw her family sitting in front of the television watching the morning news. Their eyes were glued to the screen, and they all had an expression of awe on their faces, except for little Tatsuya Kaname, Madoka's younger brother who was too young to understand the news.

Junko Kaname, Madoka's mother, turned to see her daughter.

"Hey Madoka," Junko said, "Isn't...isn't that your friend Sayaka on the TV?"

Madoka hesitated to turn her head to face the television. A sense of dread suddenly came over her as a grim thought wormed its way into her head. _What if they were broadcasting Sayaka's death?_ But just as she was about to dwell on the terrible thought, a voice from the television quickly caught her attention.

"_FOR THE LAST TIME…I don't know!"_

The voice immediately lifted Madoka's spirits. She recognized that voice very well. Her head quickly turned to the television. The news report showed a blue haired girl in a Mitakihara Middle School uniform being filmed in front of her house, looking slightly annoyed. She was surrounded by a sea of microphones and was under a barrage of questions from a swarm of reporters.

"_Look I told you people countless times already. I had no idea how I ended up in that hotel. Now please...I'm gonna be late for school…"_

A smile began to form on Madoka's lips, just as tears of joy began to manifest in her eyes. Sayaka was alive and well. And she was certainly not a witch anymore.

* * *

1:30 PM- Joestar estate

To say that Joseph Joestar had an eventful life would be an understatement. He fought vampires and ancient superbeings in the Second World War with a German cyborg as an ally. He journeyed to Egypt to fight an old family acquaintance and his army of superpowered freaks and degenerate mercenaries. He helped catch a dangerous serial killer in the town where his illegitimate son grew up in. He struck it rich in the real estate business. He adopted an invisible baby.

And now he was doing nothing but lazing on the couch and watching TV. With his wife off shopping with the servants and his adopted daughter, a stand user by the name of Shizuka Joestar, at preschool, eighty three year old Joseph Joestar thought he had the whole mansion to himself. That was until his grandson Jotaro Kujo barged in.

"Hey gramps, what are you watching?" Jotaro asked. The tall, muscular marine biologist wore the same white hat and the same white outfit he always wore, with the same stoic expression that is almost always seen on his face.

"Oh...nothing, just the world news," Answered Joseph. "It seems there's something strange going on in a Japanese town called Mitakihara. Say Jotaro, weren't you studying the strange weather patterns over there?"

"Yeah, and now two of my guys disappeared. I just checked up on Josuke though, he's fine. Although he was mumbling about some weird crap about magical girls. I told the boy to stop watching so much anime."

Jotaro suddenly felt his phone vibrate. He picked up and saw that it was a call from a Speedwagon Foundation representative. Jotaro answered the phone and immediately learned what happened to the boat and the two guys he sent to Mitakihara port.

"You're not gonna believe it gramps, but the police found the boat to be empty. Those two guys I sent just disappeared…."

Jotaro looked over to his grandfather, who was now on the edge of his seat and glued to the television screen. The news report was running a story about the disappearances of the crew members of a certain boat near Mitakihara's central port. A boat that belonged to the Speedwagon Foundation

Joseph turned to Jotaro and said, "Hey...is that the boat you're talking about?"

Jotaro took out a cigarette and lit it not with his hands but with his stand, a muscular blue humanoid called 「Star Platinum」with the ability to stop time.

"Yare yare daze," Jotaro spoke as he took a puff. "Well then, I better catch the next flight to Mitakihara."

**TO BE CONTINUED **

* * *

**Author's notes: **

So here's the second chapter. Spent more time proofreading this chapter than the last one. Things are not as bizarre now and probably won't be for another chapter, but trust me, I have some truly crazy Araki-esque things planned. Not Jorge Joestar crazy of course, but a more reasonable level of crazy.

I also have the perfect image in mind for this story, but I won't use it just yet because it will spoil something big that is going to happen soon. Let's just say Kyubey ends up making a deal with someone. Someone who can be considered the polar opposite of a magical girl candidate.

And thanks to all the people who wrote reviews and are following/faving this story. It really means a lot.


	3. Sayaka Miki just wants a Quiet Life

**Chapter 3 - Sayaka Miki just wants a quiet life**

* * *

_The Mermaid Witch_

_It is her nature to fall in love_

_Looking for the feeling that moved her so long ago,_

_she moves with the entire concert hall._

_Her only fortune turns under the weight of memories and no longer moves towards the future._

「_Nothing will reach her any longer_」

_She will come to know nothing more_

_She simply allows no one to disturb her minions' playing._

* * *

It was a ordinary morning on an ordinary day in Mitakihara town.

But Sayaka Miki felt anything but ordinary. This past day have been nothing but confusion. First, she found herself in a random hotel room with no idea how she got there. Second, she found her soul gem completely fixed and healed right next to her despite what has happened to her at the train station. And third, ever since the incident, she has been the talk of the town and the subject of numerous rumors, with the most popular being that she was abducted by an alien UFO. Her parents were worried sick when she got home, but now as everything seems to have calmed down a little, she was on her way to school as if nothing big happened. As Sayaka was walking, she looked up and saw her two friends, Hitomi and Madoka waiting for her.

"MIKI-SAN!"

Madoka ran towards Sayaka and gave her a hug with such force, that the two girls almost toppled over.

"We were worried so much about you! " said Hitomi.

"I told Mami you were fine! She was so relieved!" added Madoka.

Sayaka glanced at Hitomi. She remembers that they got into an argument, concerning a boy named Kyousuke Kamijou. Sayaka loved the boy and even became a magical girl for him, wishing for his injury to be healed so he can play the violin again. And the wish was granted, but Hitomi also had a crush on the same boy and took the chance to court him just as he got out of the hospital. This resulted in nothing but bad memories for Sayaka. But for some strange reason she could not feel a single shred of animosity towards Hitomi, nor can she feel any despair over the events that led her to turning into a witch. Ever since coming back from the hotel room, Sayaka Miki felt refreshed and unburdened. She felt like a person who was given a second chance in life, and she was not going to let old conflicts get in the way of her new-found peace of mind.

"Hey...Miki-san...about Kamijou-san…" Hitomi said.

"Eh don't worry about it. Our friendship is more important," Sayaka replied with a smile. "It's all water under the bridge."

Suddenly her stomach began to rumble. She remembered she left home in a hurry to avoid the swarm of reporters that were at her doorstep, and forgot to eat breakfast as a result.

"Hey you guys go on without me, I'm gonna go grab a quick bite to eat."

"You can eat at school." Madoka suggested.

"No way! They always put that strange stuff in their miso soup. And their meat is always too thick. I think I'll just grab something from a vending machine. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Well you better hurry," Hitomi said. "Apparently there's a famous marine biologist coming to give a lecture in our class."

With that Hitomi and Madoka went on their way to school, while Sayaka went off to search for a vending machine.

Luckily there was one selling chocolate bars just around the corner. As she neared the machine, something in the reflective glass of the machine caught her eye. It was a faint image of what looked like a humanoid creature, covered head to toe in a bluish medieval-esque armor. On its helmet were three round spirals and on the top of its head sat five structures that resembled swords intertwined with feathers.

Sayaka quickly turned around. There was no one there. And as she turned back to the vending machine the reflection was gone. That was when she could have sworn she heard a small whisper in her ear.

"_..._「_Blue Oyster Cult_」…"

Sayaka shuddered. She looked down at her hand and there was already a candy bar there, and she did not even take out her money yet. She could not shake the eerie feeling that 「something」reached through the machine and grabbed the candy for her. Panicked, she quickly put it in her pack and ran off to school, with only one thought on her mind.

_What the hell happened to me in that hotel? _

Distracted by her thoughts, Sayaka did not see where she was going. She suddenly found herself not on the path to school but in a deserted street.

And that was the moment a witch's barrier sprang up around her.

* * *

MORIOH - 11:30 AM

"So this is Morioh," Kyubey said to himself. "Looks like a regular human town."

Kyubey recalled the conversation that took place between Kyoko and the human with the strange hair a day ago. He remembered the human mentioning he's from a town called Morioh, which was filled with 「stand users」 . Morioh was a town in S city, which was a long way from Mitakihara. However, thanks to his natural teleportation abilities, Kyubey was able to reach there in no time.

Kyubey came to the town in order to study the phenomenon known as「stands」, a phenomenon his race have never encountered before. But try as he might, he just could not find any users. Occasionally he glimpsed something strange, like a deformed man petting a potted-plant and a masked man living in an electrical tower, but for the most part Morioh was just another suburban community. Nevertheless, Kyubey continued to patrol the town and that was when he noticed something strange. The town did not have a single magical girl in it.

_We incubators have contracted humans all over the planet, there should be magical girls everywhere, _Kyubey thought to himself. _So why doesn't this town have any?_

As Kyubey glanced across the street, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Between Olson Convenience Store and Kisaragi Drugstore sat an alleyway, which Kyubey did not notice before. The incubator looked up to study the town map that was beside him. To his curiosity, he noticed that the alleyway was nowhere marked on the map.

"Hmmm...this is interesting. I'm detecting a strange spatial distortion emanating from behind that alleyway." Kyubey said to himself as he crossed to street, entering the mysterious alleyway.

* * *

"_Hey Kirika, you there?"_

"_Yes Oriko...what's up?"_

"_...We're going to need more stand users…"_

"_Relax Oriko, I just checked up on that Sayaka Miki chick. Her soul gem has been stabbed by the _「_arrow_」 _before the hotel staff got to her and it's going to take a while for her _「_stand_」_to _「_gestate_」_. I gotta say Oriko, your _「_stand_」 _works pretty fast…"_

"_...Kirika, was her soul gem left there by _「_someone_」_?"_

"_...Huh? Umm...well now that you mention it, it was conveniently placed beside her bed, which is kind of strange. Didn't you tell me she's supposed to be a witch? Why does she have a soul gem?"_

"_...That's why I called. There's a new stand user in town and apparently he can revert witches back into humans…_「_restoring objects to previous states_」..._without the need of the _「_arrow_」_. And they become magical girls again, unlike the witches we've converted."_

_"...Seriously? How do you know all this?"_

"_...My _「_Electric Light Orchestra_」 _sees everything. It has no weaknesses…"_

"_...Oh yeah, right. So this new guy, is he a friend or foe?"_

"_...I don't know yet. But assuming he's an enemy, we must distract him from our mission at hand. Send one of the _「_Witch Tarot_」_after him."_

"_...Which one? Gertrud's _「_Iron Butterfly_」_is pretty strong__. And so is Gisela's_「_Speed Demon_」 _. We can also send in Elsa Maria and her_「_Night Ranger_」_, but keep in mind her stand works well only during the night..._"

"_...Send in Nagisa Mamoe."_

"_...You mean Charlotte? Oriko, I don't think sending in that runt is a good idea. Her _「_Ballroom Blitz_」_would level at least half of Mitakihara. Her stand is too violent! And it tried to eat my freakin' head!"_

"_Relax. I placed a_「___flesh bud_」_on her. She won't be...too destructive..."_

"_Alright...alright. I'll take your word for it. By the way, why do we need more stand users? Aren't the ones we have enough?"_

"_...Did you see the news? Two men disappeared next to the port. And they were hauling aboard their boat a certain... _「_gear-shaped object_」..."

"_..._「_Gear-shaped object_」_? ...OH MY GOD….y-you mean she's…."_

"_Yes Kirika, she's back. The woman in the gear is back. And we're going to need all the help we can get in order to truly defeat her."_

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **Well, there we go, another chapter down. I have a week left before school starts so I'm going to try and write as much as possible before real life takes over.

So now Sayaka is revealed to have a stand. I gave a hint to it's abilities in the intro to this chapter and I'll do this for every Witch-User introduced.

And now to the subject of the Witch Tarot, which will be a huge plot point for the majority of this story.

They are stand users, but they refer to each other using witch names as code names. As for their abilities, I had a really fun time coming up with really over the top stuff. Their origins and how they became stand users will be revealed soon. Luckily though, none of their stands are named after Prince songs, so I'm safe from his lawyers for the time being.

As always, thanks for reading!


	4. The Mysterious Blue Oyster Cult

**Chapter 4 - The Mysterious Blue Oyster Cult**

* * *

"OH _NOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!" screamed Sayaka, as she realized her mistake of stumbling into a witch's barrier.

Her surroundings melted into a blur of shapes as vibrant multicolored barricades sprung up from all directions. As Sayaka witnessed the environment change before her, she began to notice distinct forms rising forth from the walls and ground. They resembled pieces of candy corn with long, black stick-like arms that ended in nasty looking claws. Behind them, a larger form came into view. This new entity resembled a tyrannosaurus rex, albeit with a cotton candy head and candy cane arms. Its tail was nothing more than a long chain of taffy. Sayaka, having recognized the large monster as a witch and the smaller monsters as its familiars, wasted no time looking for her soul gem.

"CRAP CRAP CRAP," a panicked Sayaka said as she began to desperately search her schoolbag for the tiny ovular object. The familiars began to slowly close in on her like a pack of famished hyenas, with the witch lumbering not far behind.

"DAMNIT, WHERE IS IT!" Sayaka began to yell, just as felt her hands brush against a small metallic item.

"YES! I FOUND IT!" Sayaka exclaimed victoriously, as she pulled out her soul gem and raised it high above her head.

"Alright you monsters!" Sayaka said to the familiars and the witch, as she prepared to transform into a magical girl. "Prepare to be defeated by the warrior of justice, Sayaka Miki!"

The familiars and the witch froze in their tracks. Moments pass by...and nothing happened. A awkward silence began to permeate the barrier. The familiars and the witch were simply staring at Sayaka now. Some of the familiars began looking at each other.

"...Anytime now..." Sayaka said, the confidence in her voice slowly diminishing. The sound of coughing can be heard near the back of the crowd of familiars. One of them, Sayaka could have sworn, began to glance down at its arm as if checking for the time.

Finally losing patience, Sayaka glanced at the soul gem and what she saw horrified her. Her soul gem was completely destroyed, looking more like a cracked eggshell than a gem. Her composure lost, Sayaka suddenly dropped to her knees with a blank expression on her face, eyeing whatever remained of her soul gem in her palm. Seeing the defeated girl slump to the ground, the familiars and the witch continued their advance with a renewed fervor; the creatures were almost upon her now.

"I-I'm sorry Madoka...Mami…" Sayaka began to say to herself quietly. "But it looks like I couldn't make it…"

But just as a feeling of defeat begin to overcome Sayaka, a second thought popped into her mind. Her feelings of defeat was quickly replaced with feelings of puzzlement.

_Wait a minute...if my soul gem is destroyed...then how am I still here? _

Almost as if on cue, Sayaka heard sounds of crunching bone and cracking pavement coming from near her left side. She turned around to see one of the familiars completely pulverized to the ground, with fist-sized bruises littered all over its candy corn body. The witch and the other familiars began to cry out in distress and started to slowly back away from her, clearly frightened by something. And a quick glance around the barrier immediately showed Sayaka what that something was.

Standing right behind Sayaka was the same blue armored humanoid that she saw in the reflection on the vending machine earlier, but this time it was clearly no reflection. Only a few inches away from her, Sayaka was able to study the entity in further detail. She saw that it had a large heart shaped ruff collar around its neck, and its legs were covered in bluish green scales unlike its armored upper half. Its feet had webbed toes and a succession of musical notes ran down the length of its arms.

_Is...Is this another witch? _Sayaka thought to herself, just as the familiars have gotten over their fear and began to attack again. They leaped at her with murderous intent, only to be knocked back by a succession of rapid fire punches from the blue entity.

"_**VADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADA~! VADA VIA~!**_" the creature cried, with every blow. The familiars were being knocked as far back as 30 meters in every direction. Sayaka stood up and was staring at the aftermath in silence. All of the familiars were either forcibly implanted into the barrier walls or reduced to a pulp on the floor. And without warning, the blue creature disappeared, and the witch, agitated by the death of its minions, began to attack.

The witch opened its cotton candy head to reveal a mouth full of sharp teeth. It shot out a long spiked tongue at Sayaka, intending to impale her. But the tongue never reached its target, as the witch was suddenly moved a hundred feet away. The witch, confused for a moment, moved forward and shot out its tongue again, and again the witch was teleported a hundred feet in the opposite direction. Sayaka looked down, and saw that the blue entity's arm was coming of her own, and was touching the ground around her. She could not believe her eyes; whatever part of the ground the arm touched was _growing_. Slowly, she began to piece together what is happening around her: the blue creature, whatever it is, was somehow causing the physical distance between herself and the witch to increase every time the witch got too close. The witch, seemingly having noticed the same phenomenon, leaped into the air and lunged at Sayaka with its tongue. This time the ground immediately shrunk back to its original distance, as the blue entity's arm reached out and grabbed the witch's tongue. The blue entity fully materialized itself again and reeled in the witch like a mackerel hooked onto a fishing line. It beegan to beat the witch senseless with its free arm.

"_**VADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADA~!**_" the blue entity yelled, launching the witch several miles above into the air with its blows. The witch crashed through the barrier and was instantly destroyed.

Sayaka Miki now found herself at a deserted street again, the witch's barrier having dissipated into thin air after the death of the witch. She stood there, unable to move, staring at the blue entity which turned its attention now to Sayaka. It began to slowly walk towards her. Fearing an attack, Sayaka closed her eyes and put up her arms in defense. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the blue entity staring at her with a single yellow robotic eye inside one of the three sockets in its helmet. It was holding out an object in front of her: the candy bar she bought earlier, which must have been dropped when she was searching frantically for her soul gem.

"U-Uh….t-thank you…" Sayaka said, slowly reaching out to the candy bar with a trembling hand. As soon she touched the candy, the blue entity disappeared into thin air again. Sayaka stood in the street for a while, trying to register all that has happened within the last few minutes. She then put the candy bar into her school bag and headed to school.

_I need to talk to Mami, _Sayaka thought. _She's a veteran magical girl. If anyone knows what is happening to me, it'll be her._

* * *

"Where is she," Madoka asked, pondering why it is taking so long for her friend to get something from a vending machine. "She should be here by now…"

A few seconds later, a blue haired girl walked into the classroom panting heavily.

"Sayaka! There you are! What took you so long?" Madoka said.

"Oh..nothing. Well no...it was actually something...something big"," Sayaka replied between breaths, desperately trying to organize her thoughts.

"Sayaka...are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

"N-no. I'm fine. I...I just need to see Mami."

"Well..Mami told me she was busy today and couldn't make it to school. You can talk to her later." Madoka replied, just as their teacher, a woman by the name of Kazuko Saotome, walked into class.

"Alright class! Before we begin, I want to talk to you all about something important," Ms. Saotome said. "Girls...never date a man who judges a woman's quality by the french toast she makes!"

The class instantly recognized that Ms. Saotome has been dumped again. It has become a common routine for her to complain about her troubled love life and the men in it. A few weeks ago she was complaining about how a man rejected her because of the eggs she cooked, and now this week it has been upgraded to french toast. Sooner or later, the class believed, Ms. Saotome will eventually use up every type of food in her rants.

"But enough about that…"Ms. Saotome said, her mood calming down a bit. "We have a special guest speaker today! He's a marine biologist who has traveled to faraway exotic places like India and Egypt! And when our school found out he was planning on visiting this town, he agreed to come lecture in our class! Please welcome…Professor Jotaro Kujo!"

Just then, a tall muscular man wearing a white coat and a white hat walked into the classroom. The whole class turned their attention to the stranger, and gazed at him in awe. His features were extremely well chiseled and his well-built body dwarfed Ms. Saotome's. To the students in the class, Jotaro Kujo seemed like a _Fist of the North Star _character made real.

"Whoa, this guy looks cool!" one boy said.

"He's so...dreamy..." a girl near the back of the classroom exclaimed.

"Is that his hat or his hair?" A boy named Nakazawa said, earning a sideways glance from Ms. Saotome.

"Hello...the name is Jotaro Kujo. Professor Jotaro Kujo." the man said, his voice wooing several girls in the room, including Ms. Saotome herself. "And as your teacher Ms. Saotome explained, your school asked me to come give a talk and I thought 'why not?' So anyway a little bit about myself...I traveled to Egypt in my youth where I punched a shark in the face...and that's when I found my passion for the marine sciences…"

The class was hanging on to Jotaro's every word. Jotaro, not fearing the presence of any「stand users」, used Star Platinum's arm to scratch a small itch on the back of his head.

Sayaka Miki saw that arm. Her eyes widened.

"_Psssst...Madoka...did you see that?" _Sayaka whispered to her friend quietly.

"_See what Sayaka?"_

"_A third arm came out of him! Out of Mr. Kujo!"_

"_...Sayaka...are you sure you don't need to see the nurse?"_

"_Damnit, I'm serious! I know what I saw!"_

That is when a connection clicked in Sayaka's mind. She thought back to the blue entity earlier, and how its arm was coming out of her own. The blue entity and the third arm coming out of Mr. Kujo had to be the same kind of 「bizarre phenomenon」.

Sayaka didn't need to see Mami, she needed to talk to the man in front of her.

"Yare yare daze," sighed Jotaro Kujo as he walked out of the classroom. He agreed to do a lecture at Mitakihara Middle School as an alibi for his visit to the town, in order to throw off the suspicion of whatever forces that were responsible for the disappearances of the men he sent. He did not expect however, that the teacher was going to hit on him after class. He also was not expecting to be surrounded by a group of squealing fourteen year old girls asking for his autograph or a picture. Just as he got away from his rabid fans and one lustful teacher, a blue-haired girl came up to him.

"M-Mister Kujo?" the girl said.

"Look," Jotaro said, turning to the girl. "I'm very busy today...if you want an autograph or a picture kid, it'll have to be some other time..."

"No...it's not about that...I wanted to talk about something…" the girl began to say.

Jotaro noticed the girl did not have the rabid fangirl affection the other girls had. Instead it seemed she was very nervous and fearful about something. And what the girl said next immediately caught his interest.

"I...I saw a third arm come out of you…"

Jotaro's eyes widened. _What the hell...she saw Star Platinum! _Jotaro thought to himself. He quickly regained his composure. He needed to make sure that this girl in front of him was indeed a stand user. And he knew the perfect test.

"So…" Jotaro said, just as he summoned Star Platinum in front of him. "You're saying you saw this guy correct?"

The girl's eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. She was clearly staring at Star Platinum and was even frantically pointing at it.

"Yes! That...that thing! There's something similar inside me!" the girl said.

Jotaro studied the girl for a moment, and after a long pause he finally said, "So...you're a 「stand user」 as well?"

The girl looked confused. "S-stand? What's a stand?"

"A stand is what this guy is," Jotaro said, nudging his head towards Star Platinum. "And that 「thing」inside you is probably a stand as well.

Jotaro un-summoned Star Platinum and stared at the girl with a serious expression on his face. "How did you get it?" Jotaro asked.

"I..I don't know," the girl quietly replied. "Strange things have been happening to me lately. All I remember is that I woke up in a hotel room somehow after..." The girl quickly stopped mid-sentence as if she was trying to keep a secret from letting out.

"Hmmm…" Jotaro said. "Is that so? Call it out."

"Eh?" the girl uttered.

"Your stand…I want to see what it looks like. Call it out."

"Er..well...I don't really know how to…"

"It's simple...it obeys your own will. Anything you think, it will do. If you can will it, it will come out."

The girl looked at Jotaro for a moment. After pausing for a bit, the girl proceeded to close her eyes and concentrated on calling out her stand. To the girl's surprise, the stand swiftly materialized in front of her, and Jotaro saw it in all its armored blue glory.

"I-I did it!" the girl exclaimed excitedly, just as she called back her stand when a pink haired girl walked by.

"There you are Sayaka! I was wondering where you went!" the other girl said. She turned and saw Jotaro. "Oh hello Mr. Kujo! I really enjoyed your presentation today!"

The pink haired girl smiled at Jotaro as she motioned for her friend to go with her. But before she left, Jotaro put his hand on the blue haired girl's shoulder.

"Sayaka...was it?" Jotaro said to the girl.

"Y-yes Mr. Kujo?"

"There's something 「odd」 going on in this town. Be on guard."

"...On guard for what?"

"Stand attacks," Jotaro said, as he let go of the girl's shoulder. "Because stand users attract other stand users." He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a business card, and handed it over to Sayaka.

"Call me if you do see one," Jotaro said, as he turned around and retreated coolly.

**TO BE CONTINUED **

* * *

**BLUE OYSTER CULT**

**(user: Sayaka Miki)**

**Stats**

_Destructive Power: _B

_Speed: _A

_Range: _C

_Durability: _A

_Precision: _B

_Development Potential: _A

**Abilities**

**Spatial distortion: **Blue Oyster Cult can increase and contract the area of any surface simply by touching it. It can use this ability to increase the distance between objects by touching the ground they are on. This ability is limited to 100 feet.

**Super strength: **Blue Oyster Cult, like other stands of its kind, demonstrates considerable strength.

* * *

**Author's notes: **So we finally get to learn more about Sayaka's stand and its abilities. Its main ability is based on the line "Nothing will reach her anymore" from the description on Oktavia's card.

As for the stand's battle cry, "vada via" means "go away" in Italian, which is a reference to the stand's distance increasing abilities.

As always, thanks for reading!


	5. Kyubey's Bizarre New Friend

**So a little bit of a warning, this chapter gets particularly creepy at the end and there's spoilers for those of you who haven't finished part 4 yet. There's also a reference here to Deadman's Questions, which is a Jojo spinoff featuring one of the primary villains. It can be found on Batoto.**

**EDIT: Fixed some grammar.**

**EDIT 2: I followed Foxonpie's advice and added a flashback to make it link better with canon. **

**Chapter 5 - Kyubey's Bizarre New Friend**

* * *

_"That goddamn nun...how dare she steal my memories like that..."_

"_Good thing I killed her and got them back..."__  
_

"_Now I just have to wait for a _「_living organism_」_to pass this place...anything will do..."_

_"And finally...finally I will be able to escape."_

* * *

MORIOH

"Well this is certainly strange." Kyubey pondered to himself.

He has been walking around in the same alleyway for the past couple of hours. He saw the same houses, the same red mailbox, and the same dog droppings on the street at least a hundred times by times now. Every time he tried to exit the way he entered, he found himself back inside the same alley way again. It was a neverending loop that Kyubey, for some reason, could not teleport away from. Some「mysterious force」was preventing the incubator from leaving the alley.

The alley itself had hints of strangeness. The houses, including a doghouse, were all abandoned. There was a vending machine but no sound came out of it. In fact, the alley was so eerily silent that the only thing Kyubey could hear were his own thoughts.

That was when the incubator picked up a second voice with his big white ears.

"_Who are you?"_

Kyubey stopped in his tracks, not out of fear (his species had none) but rather out of curiosity.

"_What are you?_"

Kyubey searched for the source of the voice, and his beady little eyes fell upon a man sitting on one of the alley walls. The human was not there before. The man had short blond hair and was wearing a flamboyant dark colored suit. On his head sat a bowler hat with multiple diamond shape patterns covering its surface.

"Whatever you are," the man said, his eyes fixated on Kyubey. "...I detect 「signs of life」 from you. So you can't be a stand or ghost."

Kyubey instantly noticed two things extraordinary about the human. The first was the obvious: despite being an adult male, the human can see the incubator clearly. The second was the fact that Kyubey was unable to detect heartbeats or heat coming from the human. In fact, he seemed to lack any biological life signs at all. He was a complete anomaly.

"You can see me?" Kyubey asked the man, his head turning sideways.

The man's eyes widened. "Ah! You can talk! Maybe you are a stand after all."

The man leaped down from the wall and landed on his feet.

"But if that's the case...damn! And here I thought I had a ticket out of here…" the man said, with clear disappointment in his voice.

The enigmatic nature of the man ignited Kyubey's curiosity. He clearly knew something about stands, otherwise he would not have mistaken Kyubey for one. Kyubey had to get answers from the man, so he did what he always did when he needed to coax humans into doing what he wanted: by telling bits of the truth and leaving out the whole picture.

'Sorry sir, I'm not a stand." Kyubey said in his most human friendly voice. "I am a visitor from another planet. My people are unfamiliar with these so-called stands, and we wish to learn more about them."

The man began to eye Kyubey suspiciously. Then he started to smile.

"Ohhh...an alien...I've always wanted to meet one," the man said cheerfully. clasping his hands together. "I heard a rumor there was an alien living here in Morioh, but frankly I thought that was a bunch of bull. So Mr…?"

"Kyubey. You can call me Kyubey."

"So Kyubey-san. You've come to our planet wanting to learn more about stands eh? May I ask for what reason?"

Kyubey thought for a moment. He needed a good excuse to make the human talk.

"Well you see, my race is tasked with saving the universe, but a...stand user is getting in the way."

"A...stand user you say?" The man said with a curious expression on his face.

"Yes…and I'm afraid if he isn't stopped soon, all the hard work my kind has accomplished will be all for nothing."

The man paused for a moment, turning his back to Kyubey. He then asked, "What is the stand user's name?"

Kyubey thought about his answer for a moment. He reached the conclusion that giving away Josuke's name wouldn't hurt.

"His name is...Josuke." Kyubey said.

The man was silent for a second, his back still turned. "Is his last name Higashikata?"

Kyubey blinked. "Yes. You know him?"

Without warning, the man suddenly punched the wall beside him with great force, his long concert pianist fingers somehow not bleeding from the impact. The man turned around and Kyubey saw that the man's calm demeanor was lost. His face was twisted into an expression of pure rage, with veins bulging on his head and some spittle coming from his mouth.

"_OF COURSE I ***ING KNOW HIM! HE'S THE BASTARD WHO RUINED MY QUIET LIFE!" _yelled the man.

The man grabbed Kyubey by the scruff of his neck and brought him close to his face.

"How...how do you know Josuke?" the man said with clenched teeth.

Kyubey realized his mistake: the man had a deeper connection with Josuke Higashikata than previously thought. The man held a unbelievable amount of animosity towards Josuke, and Kyubey can use this to his advantage.

"He's the stand user I'm talking about. If you can stop him, you'd be considered the savior of the universe ." Kyubey said calmly.

The man's rage resided. "...Savior of the universe? You mean like the space hero Flash Gordon?"

Kyubey realized if he can use the man's hatred, he can convince him to destroy Josuke.

"...How is Josuke threatening the universe exactly?" the man asked, with Kyubey still in his grasp.

"Well you see, Mr…?"

"Yoshikage. Kira Yoshikage."

"Mr. Yoshikage. I am a actually a Messenger of Magic, and I'm responsible for creating magical girls."

Kyubey went on to tell the man named Kira about the magical girl system: about how magical girls are responsible for protecting humanity from evil beings known as witches that feed on the negative emotions of humans. He conveniently left out the part where magical girls turn into witches after they use up their energy or fall into despair.

"Hmmm...so there's not only stands in this world, but also magical girls…." Kira said. "But...I don't see how Josuke fits into all of this."

"The problem is Josuke's power," Kyubey said. "His stand disrupts the whole process. Soon I will be out of potential magical girl candidates and witches will overrun the planet, throwing it into chaos."

It was a clear lie, a clever twist of the real truth, but Kira was buying it.

"So...that's why you're interested in stands right?" Kira said.

"Yes. And you sir seemed to know a lot about stands. I was wondering if you can help me and my people out?"

Kira plopped Kyubey to the floor and said with a cheerful smile. "Heck, I'll do you one better. I'll _kill _Josuke for you myself!"

Kyubey had the human right where he wanted him.

"But…" Kira began to say.

"But what?"

"But...I'm stuck here...in this alleyway. I can't get out. But if we work together we can fix that."

"You know a way out? I'm stuck too. Not even my teleportation works here."

"Oh don't worry Mr. Kyubey. I know how to get out, but you're gonna have to listen to me very carefully."

Kyubey's ears perked up. "Okay...what do we do?"

Kira looked around the alleyway for a second as if watching out for something.

"Follow me..." Kira said.

The incubator followed the man towards the mailbox, when the man stopped in his tracks. He pointed to the left of the mailbox, where Kyubey noticed a pathway he did not notice before.

"We turn left into the path and walk approximately 20 meters until we hit the exit," Kira said. He then knelled down and was face to face with Kyubey.

"Now...once we enter that pathway, you must promise me one thing. You must never look back."

"Why not?" Kyubey asked.

"It's...complicated. Just trust me, you don't want to turn back." Kira said, as the two turned left and entered the path.

The duo walked for one minute, when Kyubey started to hear a tapping noise behind him. Time passed by and the tapping noise became louder and louder.

"Hey Kira, do you hear that noise?"

"Ignore them. And keep your eyes ahead."

The tapping was at a pitch high now. Kyubey suddenly felt something breathing on his back. The incubator's many senses were agitated, definitely detecting a presence behind him. But whatever it was, it was no magical girl or witch.

"Stay on track Kyubey-san. Remember what I told you. Don't even think about turning back."

But Kyubey couldn't take it anymore. His curiosity getting the better of him, he turned around to investigate the source of the sounds. And he quickly realized he should have followed Kira's advice.

A huge swarm of disembodied hands manifested in front of the hapless incubator, grabbing his tiny cat like body and proceeded to drag him away from the exit. Their grip was absurdly strong and Kyubey's struggles were futile. Although his race had no notions of fear, Kyubey could not help but feel but slightly distressed at his situation.

_Hands...these aren't normal familiars! _Kyubey thought, as he felt Kira grab his tail.

"*sigh*...didn't I tell you not to look back? You alerted「them」here." Kira said, as he forcibly tugged Kyubey away from the wall of hands. "Looks like I'm going to have to expedite the process."

Without warning, Kira began to shove his hand into Kyubey's tiny mouth.

"K-Kira...what are you doing?" Kyubey said.

Kyubey managed to take a quick glance at Kira, and saw that a devilish grin has formed on the man's face.

"Why..._I'm taking your body of course. Alien or not, you're the first living thing to cross into this alleyway for a long time Kyubey-san._"

Kira was no longer shoving only his hand into Kyubey's mouth. Soon his whole arm went in. Then his head. Then his body and legs. Kyubey realized he wasn't the one tricking the human; it was the human who has tricked him all along!

And that was when the incubator blacked out.

* * *

When he woke up, Kyubey found himself on the street opposite to the alley.

"That was certainly strange." Kyubey remarked to himself. "It seems I have died. I must go into the alley again and eat my old body."

Incubators have a bizarre ability to create a new body upon death, but in order to hide evidence of their existence, all incubators were required to consume their previous body. Hesitant to cross back to the alley, Kyubey nonetheless had no choice. But just as he was about to cross the street, the incubator saw a reflection on a puddle of water nearby, and that reflection was the strangest thing he has seen all day.

What stared back at Kyubey wasn't his own reflection, but that of another incubator. It had long fluffy ears, a long fluffy tail, four stubby legs and a blank smile on its face, much like all incubators. But that is where the similarities end. This particular incubator had a patch of well-kept blonde hair on its head. It wore a small incubator-sized light purple suit and around its neck was a tie decorated with skulls.

_Hope you don't mind the changes, _the incubator in the puddle said. It finally dawned on Kyubey that the reflection in the puddle was actually his own, and that the voice was really coming from inside his head. It was Kira's voice.

_Kira? What did you do to me? _Kyubey said with his thoughts.

_I'm possessing you. And I had to do some...redecorating. Hope you don't mind. You lacked a sense of fashion. And how come you don't have any damn fingernails? _The voice replied back.

_You're...possessing me? Kira...what are you? You're not a regular human._

___I'm a _「_ghost_」_of course____. I needed a living body in order to make my comeback into the _「_living world_」___. Thankfully, you just so happened to blunder your way into the_「___ghost alleyway_」, a ___portal between the living and the dead. It's a good thing I regained my memories after I killed that wretched nun, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered that place. Anyways, you have my thanks Kyubey-san. _

_A...ghost? Impossible. Ghosts are nothing more than human superstition. The human soul exists as nothing more than a force flowing through a network of neurons. It's annihilated when the body dies. Ghosts can't possibly exist._

_Oh? If I don't exist, then how can I do this?_

Kyubey's right ear curled into a fist against his will, and he punched himself in the face.

_Hey!_

_Heh heh heh. Looks like I'm pretty real don't you think? By the way I lied when I said I wanted to kill Josuke. Frankly, I don't want anything to do with that asshole after what he did to me. And I couldn't give a rat's ass about the universe. I just want to live a quiet plant-like life. I said all those things just to hook you in Kyubey-san. Man...you aliens are gullible. _

Kyubey didn't say or think a word. He was in a situation that was completely unprecedented to his kind. But he was not going to allow a mere human, ghost or not, to get the better of him. That was when Kyubey began to think back about all the magical girls he has ever contracted. It wasn't the incubator who was bringing up these memories, but the human intruder inside him.

_Hmmmm...I'm looking through your memories Kyubey-san. You weren't kidding about the magical girls. Damn...some of them have really nice..._「_hands_」_. I'm jealous of you Kyubey-san, to be petted by all these girls. To feel their _「_soft fingers_」_caress your fur. _

Kyubey was powerless to stop Kira from rummaging through his memories. Then his mind suddenly stopped at a image of a girl with pink hair.

_Hey now... who is this? According to your memories Kyubey-san...she lives in_ _the town of Mitakihara. A little bit on the young side, but ,according to your memory, her palms felt particularly_「_soft_」_when she held you in her arms_. _Her name...Madoka Kaname. A student at Mitakihara Middle School. Hmmmm..._

Kyubey suddenly found himself struggling to take control of his body.

_Kira...w-what are you doing now?_

_Sorry Kyubey-san, but I'm taking over. Since I'm a nice guy, I'll keep you around. You'll be imprisoned in a vacant space in the back of your mind. It's been nice talking to you._

The incubator's body was wracked with violent spasms, which ended as quickly as they had started. The incubator's face morphed, his little eyes replaced with larger human ones and his smile became a smirk. He was no longer a magical girl mascot, but a terrifying serial killer who has murdered countless women in the name of his disturbing fetish. His name is Yoshikage Kira, a thirty three year old employee of Kameyu Market Regional Management Office back when he was alive. He was defeated by Josuke and friends a few years prior, but now he is back inside an extraterrestrial body that made him invisible to everyone except for a select few. No one, including the authorities, can find out about his crimes now; no one can stop him.

"Heh...looks like everything is coming up Kira," Kira said to himself, as he headed off to Mitakihara Town with his newly acquired body, in search of the pink haired girl with the soft hands. And his stand「Killer Queen」 followed not far behind.

**TO BE CONTINUED **

* * *

**Author's notes: **Man this chapter was kind of hard to write. It was difficult to come up with banter between an emotionless alien and a messed up murderer. Anyway, I got the idea of Kira's ghost entering Kyubey's body after my friend and I joked about how terrifying a serial killer magical girl mascot would be.

Kira is wearing his Deadman Question's outfit as a ghost but while inside Kyubey he has his old David Bowie appearance. A smaller, fluffier David Bowie. I tried to make his dialogue as creepy as possible near the end, but I hope I didn't overdo it and end up on "The List".

I have an explanation in mind to explain how Kira's ghost was able to get his memories back. It will be revealed later.

But to clarify, Kira is not going to be the main villain. He's going to be a tertiary villain, much like Angelo's role in part 4. I was hesitant at first to introduce a fan favorite character from Jojo as anything but the main villain, but I realized that the story I have planned would not have worked out otherwise.

I think I'm done with build up for the most part. We are finally heading into some stand fights (which is the reason why 90% of Jojo fans read the manga in the first place).

As always, thanks for reading!


	6. Mami and Homura meet Josuke

**Quick note: The part where Mami is saved from Charlotte by Sayaka is a reference to A Different Story for those of you who haven't read it yet. And I was really nitpicky with this chapter, so I'll probably change some parts of it later.**

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Mami and Homura meet the Man with the Pompadour**

* * *

TOMOE RESIDENCE

Mami has never been so happy.

In fact, she was so overwhelmed with happiness that she couldn't stop baking. Cakes and desserts of every kind filled the kitchen in her apartment. She wore an apron and a smile on her face as she churned a bowl of flour, preparing to add another cake to her massive inventory.

Fifteen year old Mami Tomoe had every reason to be as euphoric as she was. First, earlier this week she managed to survive a witch attack that nearly took her head off, thanks to the quick intervention of Sayaka Miki who became a magical girl just in the nick of time. Second, even though she witnessed the same Sayaka turn into a witch, she got a call this morning from Madoka Kaname to check the news, and to her surprise Sayaka was completely fine and un-witchified. And the third reason for Mami's happiness was the red haired girl with her in the apartment.

That red haired girl happened to be Kyoko Sakura, a mentee and friend to Mami early in her magical girl career. The two had a falling out sometime ago, but thanks to a combination of miraculous circumstances, chance meetings, and generally bizarre events, Kyoko and Mami were good friends again.

"Hey Mami…" Kyoko said, standing in the kitchen entrance. "Maybe...maybe you should ease up on the cakes."

"Hmmm...oh! I didn't notice I made so much," Mami said. "I guess I'm just...happy."

Mami stopped churning to wipe off a tear in her eye.

"Hey Mami, you alright?"

Without warning, Mami ran towards Kyoko and hugged her. Kyoko was taken by surprise.

"...M-Mami?"

"O-oh it's nothing," Mami said, letting go of the hug to wipe off another tear. "It's just...I wanted to make sure you were really here. I'm glad you're safe…"

"Don't worry about me," Kyoko said, giving off a big smile. "I told you I'd come back didn't I?"

Both girls moved to the living room, where they ate and chatted most of the day away. Mami enjoyed her friend's company so much, she called Madoka at school and told her she will be missing class. It was the first time she ever skipped school in her life. But it was worth it.

"So…"Kyoko said, after taking a bite of pie. " You want to meet him?"

Mami looked up from the tea she was sipping. "Him? What do you mean?"

Being a teenage girl, the first thought that popped into Mami's head was of romance. "K-Kyoko! You found a boyfriend?!"

"Eh!?" Kyoko surprisingly said. "Wha...no! God no!"

"Aw come on Kyoko. Don't be shy and admit it…"

Kyoko paused eating her pie to glance at her friend in disbelief. "Mami….he's at least 20 years old. He's in college."

The teasing smile from Mami's space was wiped away and replaced with a expression of awkwardness. "...Oh...nevermind then."

"As I was saying..." Kyoko said, taking another bite of pie. "You want to meet the man who turned Sayaka back into a magical girl?"

Mami almost dropped her tea. "W-wait. You're telling me it was a _man _who turned Sayaka back?"

"Yup. I already told Homura and we can still visit him. He should be in the hospital at this time."

"Is...is he a magical girl himself? But Kyubey said only girls can be-"

"Don't be ridiculous, he ain't a magical girl. He's got something new, something we've never heard of."

Mami was captivated by her friend's words. Being a veteran magical girl, Mami thought the only supernatural forces operating in the world were magical girls, incubators, witches, and familiars. She didn't realize there were additional unnatural phenomenon out there that she has never encountered before.

"What is it? This thing this man has." Mami asked.

"Something called a stand. From what I can piece together, it's like a imaginary friend, but...not really imaginary."

"...Kyoko. That doesn't make any sense at all."

Kyoko scarfed down her pie. "Well it's better if you see it for yourself. Whatddya say? Let's go to the hospital right now!"

Mami put down her tea. "Well...since I'm taking a break from school today...I guess I might as well."

And with that, the two girls left the apartment.

* * *

"Hey, it's Homura!" Mami exclaimed, as she and Kyoko neared Mitakihara General Hospital.

Homura Akemi was in her magical girl outfit, complete with a shield on her arm and a crystal on the back of her hand. She was standing in front of the hospital entrance, and turned around to face Mami and Kyoko.

"Oh...hello." Homura said, her expression as stoic as ever.

"So...you want to meet him too eh?" Kyoko said.

"Of course." Homura answered.

"Is there a reason why you are in your magical girl outfit?" Mami asked.

"To prepare for the worst." Homura replied sternly. "In case Kyoko's man of miracles turns out to be something else."

Kyoko and Mami stared at their companion in disbelief of her militancy. The awkward silence was finally broken by a snide remark from Kyoko. "Geez, I'd hate to have you at parties."

"Anyways," Kyoko said, turning towards the hospital entrance. "I assure you guys, he's a pretty cool dude. Just...promise me one thing when you meet him."

"Promise what?" Mami asked.

"Don't... talk about his hair." Kyoko said.

With a confused Mami and a unchanging Homura in tow, Kyoko lead the way into the hospital.

"Hey Mami…" Homura said.

"Hmmm?"

"Don't you find this man we're about to meet suspicious?"

"Well…" Mami said. "It does seem incredible that a man has powers like that without being a magical girl. But stranger things have happened I suppose. And I have complete trust in Kyoko."

"Hmmm...I see." Homura said, quietly loading a clip into a handgun behind her shield.

"What was that?" Mami asked, hearing the noise of the clip being loaded..

"Oh...nothing…" Homura replied, as the three girls made their to the tenth floor of the hospital.

* * *

MITAKIHARA HOSPITAL - 10TH FlOOR

"Goddamnit Okuyasu, I'm telling the truth. I ain't making this magical girl stuff up," Josuke said. The pompadoured medical school student was in a nurse's outfit in Mitakihara General Hospital. As an intern, Josuke sat at a desk all day on the tenth floor and did nothing but paperwork. Wanting to break the monotony of his tasks, he decided to give his best friend Okuyasu, a fellow stand user, a call with his cellphone. But he made the mistake of telling him about the magical girl he met a night ago.

"_Haha. Very funny Josuke,"_ Okuyasu said at the other end of the line. _"You expect me to believe magical girls are real? Look man...I might not be that smart, but I'm not that stupid either."_

"Oh for crying out-" Josuke said, as he turned and saw three girls standing behind him . They were all in the middle school to high school age range. One girl he recognized immediately as Kyoko, the red haired magical girl who held a spear to his clavicle. The other two were strangers to him; one was dark haired and wearing a black/blue/white outfit and carrying a odd looking shield. The third girl, Josuke thought to himself, had crazier hair than he did.

"Hey Okuyasu, I'm gonna have to call you back…" Josuke said to the phone.

"_What's the matter? You being attacked by Sailor Moon? Hehehehe."_

"Screw you man." Josuke said, shutting his phone and putting it away in his pants pocket.

"Hiya Josuke!" Kyoko said.

"How the hell did you get in here without staff noticing?" Josuke said.

"Well you see...we were gonna take the stairs normally, but then we realized we could've just hopped up here using our magic."

"...Alright...So who are these two?" Josuke said, pointing to Mami and Homura.

"These are my pals Mami and Homura!" Kyoko replied. "Mami, Homura...this is Josuke. He's the guy I was talking about."

Josuke turned to face Mami and Homura. "So…which one of you needs fixing?"

"Huh? Oh no we're fine. I'm Mami by the way. It's nice to meet you Mr. Josuke." the yellow haired girl said.

The dark haired girl, who remained silent, Josuke deduced to be Homura. She, for some reason, kept reminding him of someone he knew.

"So...anyways." Kyoko said. "I told them about the thing you did to Sayaka. And I don't think they're 100% convinced yet. So I was wondering if you can demonstrate your powers in person! "

"Huh. I see." Josuke said, looking around. Luckily all the hospital staff was out, and there was no patients currently present on the tenth floor due to remodeling. He was free to use his Crazy Diamond without any repercussions.

"Alright, since no one is here, I guess I can give a small demonstration." Josuke said. He grabbed a couple of papers on his desk and began tearing them.

"Uh...Mr. Josuke. Aren't those important to the hospital?" Mami asked.

"Just watch..." Josuke said, as he called out his stand, Crazy Diamond, which was invisible to the girls. It was a large pink humanoid with a helmet on its head in the shape of a heart. Controlling his stand, Josuke used its arm to brush over the pieces of paper, and soon they weren't pieces anymore. They accumulated together and reformed back into complete sheets.

"Amazing huh?," Josuke said with a snug expression, confident that he has impressed his small audience. "My stand, Crazy Diamond can pretty much fix anything. Well except for…" Josuke stopped mid-sentence, as he saw the clear disappointment in the faces of Mami and Kyoko.

"Ummm...was that it?" a confused Mami said.

"...That was kinda lame Josuke." Kyoko said.

"Well what the hell do you expect me to do? Go into a patient's room, break his legs, and then heal them?" Josuke replied sarcastically.

"That's a great idea! Let's go break someone's legs! "Kyoko said cheerfully.

"NO. WE'RE NOT BREAKING ANYONE'S LEGS!" Josuke yelled.

Homura suddenly spoke up. "Then I want to see you fix a soul gem."

Josuke and the two other girls turned to face her.

"Uh...sure kiddo. But from what your friend told me, none of you need fixing." Josuke said.

"You need a broken soul gem right? That can be arranged." Homura said, as she suddenly pulled out her handgun and fired at her own soul gem located on the back of her hand.

"HOMURA!"Mami screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Kyoko yelled.

And Josuke leapt towards Homura without saying anything.

Homura was certainly not suicidal; she only planned on grazing her gem very, very lightly with her bullet. Nonetheless, it would still be painful, but it was the only way to truly see if Josuke isn't a fraud or one of Kyubey's manipulations. But she did not feel any pain at all. In fact, the bullet was stopped in midair before it even reached its target. The bullet soon lost all momentum and plopped to the floor, as if dropped by an invisible hand. Homura looked up and saw that Josuke was standing right in front of her.

"KID, YOU'RE INSANE." Josuke yelled. He then turned to Mami and Kyoko, who was frozen in shock. "YOU'RE FRIEND IS INSANE." He then turned back to Homura. "YOU'RE INSANE."

"...Are you done?" Homura said.

"NO…I'M NOT DONE YELLING YET." Josuke said, taking a deep breath. He then started to yell again. "YOU'RE INSANE...Who the hell brings a goddamn gun into a hospital? You're lucky no one else is around!"

"It's because..._I don't trust you_!" Homura said, the volume of her own voice matching Josuke's. "You might have fooled the others, but...you can't fool me!

"Fool you?" Josuke said with a puzzled face.

"I don't know what trick you pulled to make Sayaka seems like she's back, but I won't fall for your illusions!"

"H-Homura…" Mami said.

"I've never heard of you in any timeline! And frankly...I don't trust anyone with _that _kind of hairstyle!" Homura yelled.

"Aw... crap. She did it." Kyoko said. "Mami, we should move a couple of meters away."

Without warning, Josuke grabbed Homura by the collar of her uniform, his eyes giving off an angry glare.

"HEY KID...WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY-"

Right when Josuke was about to summon Crazy Diamond, a doctor suddenly bursted through the door.

"HEY...I HEARD A GUNSHOT. WHAT'S GOING ON?" the doctor yelled. Josuke, caught off guard by the doctor, found that the girl who insulted his hair had disappeared. He was grasping empty air now. Mami and Kyoko was nowhere in sight as well. He was alone in the room and he had to come up with an explanation for the gunshot fast.

"Uh...it wasn't a gunshot. It's...it's my ringtone." Josuke said.

"...Your ringtone...is a gunshot?" the doctor asked.

"...I'm a fan of gangster rap sir. Gunshots are the hardest beat." Josuke said with an awkward smile.

"...I see…well that's not important now! There's an emergency on the 9th floor!"

Josuke's eyes lit up. "An emergency?"

"Yeah! You're not gonna believe this but…part of the 9th floor collapsed in on itself!"

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No...we managed to get all the staff and most of the patients out but…" the doctor said. "But...but...there's still one patient trapped behind the rubble!"

"Who?" Josuke asked.

"A girl...who was re-admitted to this hospital early this morning…" the doctor said. "Her name is Nagisa Momoe."

* * *

The sun was setting and the sky was a dim yellow. Homura was standing in the hospital parking lot. She looked down at her outfit and saw that the part where Josuke grabbed has been severely deformed. Luckily she was able to stop time to escape from Josuke's grasp. However, she did not escape because she was afraid, but because over the din of Josuke's yelling, she heard another voice. The voice sounded like it belonged to a young woman, and was coming from outside the hospital. It was calling her name.

As she walked around in the parking lot, Homura heard the voice again.

_"Homura...Akemi…"_

Homura scanned the area. There was no one around. She was getting impatient.

"Whoever you are, I demand you to reveal yourself." Homura said.

"I'm right behind you," the voice answered back. Homura quickly turned around. To her surprise, there was a girl and a dog standing besides a row of bushes in front of her. The girl was older than Mami and had short light brown hair. She was wearing a very bright pinkish dress. Her canine companion had light brown fur and what looked like a large bleeding wound was on its throat.

"Who are you? Are you another magical girl?" Homura asked.

"No silly," the girl replied with a small smile. "My name is Reimi and this is my friend Arnold. We're 「ghosts」."

"...Ghosts...right." Homura said with a skeptical tone.

"I see you're hesitant to believe me." the girl said.

"Well considering everything that's happened so far, you'd guess right."

The girl's smile vanished. "Well it doesn't matter if you believe we're ghosts or not. Because you are going to want to hear what I have to say."

"And what might that be?"

"Your friend...Madoka Kaname." the girl said. Homura froze at the sound of her friend's name.

"Your friend..Madoka Kaname. She's in grave danger…"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **So I wanted to get this chapter quickly out of the way because it's just build up to the first legitimate stand fight. There are some dialogue and transitions that I feel could be better, but for the time being I'll leave the chapter as is.

And just a heads up, Since school started updates will be slower now. I'll try to write every now and then to the best of my ability.

Look up the youtube video "Rifle Burs" to understand what Josuke means by "gunshots are the hardest beat."


	7. Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz Part 1

**Chapter 7 - Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz part 1**

* * *

_The Desert Witch_

_With a_「_tenacious nature_」

_She desires_「_everything_」

_She will never give up_

_Though she is capable of creating infinite amounts of desserts she desires,_

_she is unable to make the cheese that she loves most._

_One could easily catch her off-guard with a piece of cheese._

* * *

MITAKIHARA GENERAL HOSPITAL - NINTH FLOOR

"Damn!" Josuke said to himself. He was on the ninth floor of Mitakihara General Hospital surrounded on all sides by panicked hospital staff, firemen, and security guards. The hallway was crowded, yet Josuke could plainly see the reason for the commotion.

A gigantic mound of rubble was blocking the only entrance to the next wing. Behind the rubble, Josuke knew, a girl by the name of Nagisa Momoe was trapped. He learned from the doctors that Nagisa used to be a patient at this hospital, being treated for an incurable illness, an illness which made it impossible for her to eat her favorite food: cheese. One day she suddenly went missing, and the hospital staff couldn't find her. The authorities looked everywhere for her, including all the cheese shops in the area, but the search was fruitless. Miraculously however, she reappeared in her hospital room one day, much to the surprise of the staff. In addition, she seems to have made a full recovery from the illness and, as a result, was a sensation among the at the hospital. They gave her the nickname of "Miracle Girl". Most of the doctors wanted to do tests on her to make sure the illness was really gone, hence why she was readmitted back into her old room. Unfortunately, that room was now behind an insurmountable heap of debris, and the firemen, doctors, nurses and guards were taking too long to remove it.

Josuke was losing patience. When his hair wasn't being insulted, Josuke was actually a kind person, and he had the habit of looking out for others. It's no wonder why he wanted to rescue the trapped girl. At the same time, he couldn't use his stand with so much people around, lest he freak them all out and make a delicate situation even worse. That was when he heard a tapping on the window.

"_Pssst...Josuke."_

Josuke turned around to see Kyoko hanging upside down on the window. She was in full magical girl gear and was clinging onto her spear for support. Seeing that everyone else is too busy to notice, he went to the window and opened it.

"Kyoko?" Josuke said.

"Yeah sorry about bouncing off like that. Mami and I had to transform into magical girls once we noticed something was up."

"Where's Mami?"

"She's a couple of windows over! She wants to rescue the girl that's trapped and I can't talk her out of it. And we could use your help."

Josuke looked over his shoulder. The combined efforts of the staff, firemen, and security guards succeeded in removing only 1/100th of the rubble.

"By the way, sorry about Homura. Don't know what's gotten in to her. " Kyoko said.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just get to that girl trapped on the other side."

"Alright, grab onto my spear," Kyoko said, leaping back to give Josuke room to cling onto the tip of her spear, which was enlarged and elongated, acting like a mobile platform. The two promptly made their way to a open window on the far side of the building. Mami was there, waving to them from inside, having crossed there using an array of long yellow ribbons. She too was in magical girl form, complete with beret, white blouse, black corset, and beige skirt. The window led into a vacant room with two hospital beds on each side.

Once all three were inside, Mami began to go over the situation. "It seems only the entrance was collapsed."

"Huh...that's strange." Josuke said.

"Well whatever the reason, the good news is that the rest of the floor is completely undamaged for the most part. Which means the girl must be safe." Mami said.

"Well that's a relief. Let's quit sitting on our butts and rescue the brat!" Kyoko said as she bolted out the door. Mami and Josuke quickly followed.

Mami's report was right, as all adjacent rooms seemed to be untouched. The walls were clear of any signs of cracks or rubble, and so was the roof and floor. The three began to search every room for signs of Nagisa Momoe, when Kyoko suddenly shouted.

"HEY GUYS! OVER HERE!"

Mami and Josuke ran to where Kyoko was. She was standing in the doorway of a dimmed room. The room was nearly identical to all the other rooms. It was filled with beds, trays, vacant IV poles, cabinets full of medicine, and a flower pot near the window. The only thing different about this room was that there was a mass on the floor. That mass was moving.

"Look!" Kyoko said, pointing to the mass. Josuke quickly flicked on the lights to reveal that the mass was actually an unconscious doctor, sprawled face down on the floor.

"The hell, I thought all the staff were evacuated from this area." Josuke said. He promptly went to the doctor and held him up. He saw that the doctor's name was「Dr. Ikuro B.T. Hashizawa」 from the nametag on his coat. Josuke probed the doctor for injuries, only to find that he suffered only a minor concussion, which was immediately healed by Crazy Diamond.

The doctor opened his eyes and looked up at Josuke.

"Hey...you alright?" Josuke asked.

"Ughhh...yeah...though my head hurts like a motherf-" the doctor said, stopping once he saw Kyoko and Mami in the room.

"Hey man...what happened?" Josuke said.

"I d-don't know...I heard a commotion upstairs so I ran to the elevator to check it out. But something happened...I forgot..and now I'm in this room. Do you know what's going on upstairs?"

Josuke immediately sensed something was off. He knew the doctor had to be talking about the ninth floor partially collapsing, but there was something in what the man said that didn't match up with the situation. "Wait a minute. You said 「upsairs」. You weren't on the ninth floor to begin with?"

The doctor looked at Josuke perplexed. "What are you talking about? Isn't this the eighth floor?"

"Uh...no mister," Mami chimed in. "This is the ninth floor."

The doctor looked at all three in confusion. "T-That can't be…I could've sworn..."

"You remember how you got up here?" Josuke asked.

"I told you...I don't remember anything from the past couple of minutes." the doctor replied.

"Well we'll figure that out later. First, do you know which room a girl named 'Nagisa Momoe' is staying in?" Josuke said.

"Nagisa...Momoe?" the doctor said. "Oh...you mean the Miracle Girl. If this really is the ninth floor, she should be staying in room #567."

"Alright thanks Do-" Josuke stopped mid-sentence. Without warning, the doctor began to levitate in the air.

"Ah..AH AHHHHHHHH! What's happening to me?!" the doctor yelled, as his body floated closer and closer to the ceiling. Josuke grabbed onto the doctor's hand, trying to pull him back down. Mami and Kyoko quickly joined in, pulling the doctor's limbs with ribbons and spear. The three struggled to bring the doctor back down, and that was when Mami saw what was on the ceiling.

"W-what in the world is that?" Mami said.

Josuke and Kyoko looked up towards the ceiling, and saw a black dot no bigger than a waffle. A huge current of wind was flowing into the dot, and the doctor was being dragged closer and closer to it. Suddenly, the flower pot beside the window began to ascend like the doctor and approached the dot with tremendous speed. Once it touched the dot, the flower pot disappeared, as if wiped away from existence. Then pieces of glass tore itself from the window in the room and began to ascend to the ceiling just as rapidly, some pieces cutting the doctor and some flying into the dot only to suffer the same fate as the flower pot. The gust of wind began to increase in strength and momentum, until everyone in the room felt its force. The two magical girls and the stand user tried desperately to pull the doctor back, but their combined grip was slipping. Eventually, the wind overpowered the three, and the doctor was dragged into the dot where he was subsequently devoured.

Mami, Kyoko, and Josuke fell onto their backs. The dot grew bigger, and that's when Josuke had a terrifying revelation.

"Holy s***...EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE ROOM NOW." Josuke yelled.

"Huh!?" the two girls exclaimed.

"That dot on the ceiling..._it's a_「_black hole_」!" Josuke yelled, just as a desk, two IV poles, and one of the beds were sucked into the dot. Mami and Kyoko didn't need any more convincing. The trio quickly lunged towards the exit, as the wind from the dot began to reach its strongest. Kyoko and Josuke managed to jump out into the main hall.

"Ah~!" Mami said, as she suddenly tripped.

"Oh no! Mami!" Kyoko screamed.

Mami soon found herself floating into the air like the doctor and the flower pot. Her survival instincts kicking into overdrive, she summoned a ribbon and attached it a heater beside one of the beds. All other objects in the room started to move towards the black hole, but the heater was luckily nailed down to the floor.

"Hang on! I'm coming to get you!" Josuke yelled, extending his Crazy Diamond to try and grab Mami's arm. But right at that moment, the heater ripped itself out of the ground and began a rapid ascension towards the black hole, taking Mami with it.

"Ah crap!" Kyoko yelled as she extended her spear to grab ahold of Mami. The moment the spear tip neared the center of the room however, it was swiftly knocked away by a floating hospital bed. Mami was being dragged closer and closer to her demise.

_Oh God, I'm done for! _Mami thought. She had just rekindled her friendship with Kyoko and couldn't help but feel despair at the prospect of being devoured whole by the thing on the ceiling. That was when she suddenly got a crazy idea in her head. Not wasting a second, the veteran magical girl quickly called forth a vast array of magic muskets. She did not aim them at the black hole but instead at the wall opposite to the exit. She fired and the shots hit their mark. The recoil from the blast created a equal and opposite reaction that launched Mami through the exit. She hit a wall and landed on her behind.

"Hey kid...you alright?" Josuke asked, helping Mami up.

"Damn Mami, that was quick thinking! You had us worried for a second there." Kyoko said.

"Yeah...luckily I have a good head on my shoulders." Mami said, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow.

A loud thud resonated from inside the room. Josuke, Kyoko, and Mami looked back into the room to find it completely destroyed. Pieces of plaster littered the floor, and chunks of debris were piled up everywhere. The beds, IV poles, and furniture were all gone and parts of the surrounding walls were demolished. The black hole, after eating its fill, simply disappeared from the ceiling.

"Holy crap that was close. What the hell is a black hole doing in a hospital anyway?" Kyoko said.

"It could be the work of a witch. But I have never seen a witch attack like this." Mami said.

"That's because...it's not a witch attack." Josuke said.

"Huh?" both girls said in unison.

"Kyoko...remember the night I first met you? Remember what you told me about witch attacks?" Josuke said.

"Um...yeah. I said a witch attacks whenever there is accidents or misfortune."

"No...besides that."

"That witches attack by putting up a barrier?"

"Exactly, now look around you." Josuke said, gesturing to his surroundings. "What do you notice?" Kyoko and Mami looked around the floor. Besides the demolished room, the rest of the floor was still intact. Nothing out of the ordinary was in sight.

"Well..besides the freakin' black hole earlier, nothing." Kyoko remarked.

"Exactly…" Josuke said. "Nothing else is out of the ordinary. _There's no barrier._"

The two magical girls took a moment to register Josuke's words.

"Wait, if this isn't a witch attack, then what is it?" Mami asked.

"Josuke...you don't mean…" Kyoko said.

"「Stand users attract other stand users.」A「stand」 did this, and the「user」is in this very hospital." Josuke said with a stern expression on his face. The two girls looked at him in shock.

"Why...why would a stand attack this hospital?" Mami asked.

"_**MOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGU!" **_

What answered Mami wasn't Josuke or Kyoko. It was a fourth voice, a deep monstrous voice, that echoed from an adjacent hallway around the corner.

"What the hell, did anyone else hear that?" Josuke said.

"I didn't hear anything." Mami said.

"Me neither." Kyoko replied.

"It...it was coming from the hallway around the corner!" Josuke said.

"Look!" Mami said, pointing to a sign on the wall to their right. The sign had a arrow pointing to the hallway Josuke was talking about, and below the arrow were the words "rooms #550 - #600".

"Oh no...you don't think…" Mami said.

"Crap...whatever made that noise is heading towards the girl!" Josuke said. "We can't waste anymore time!" He quickly jumped to his feet and disappeared around the corner, only to fall back into view.

"Aw...you gotta be kidding me..." Josuke said with a slight trembling in his voice, his eyes fixed on something clearly terrifying him down the hallway.

"Josuke, what's wrong?" Mami said, as she and Kyoko peaked down the hallway where Josuke is staring. Fear immediately seized their bodies and they quickly realized the reason for Josuke's reaction.

Covering the floor of the hallway were at least a thousand black dots.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **So we finally are close to meeting our first witch-based stand! And yes, MOGUMOGUMOGU is indeed its battle cry.

Again, since I'm going to be busy with schoolwork, expect updates less often. I'll try to wrap up this encounter within a week or two. Then we get to see Kira shenanigans. Followed by more witch-based stands.

And I can't actually tell if Mami's skirt is beige or not. I'm legitimately color blind.

Thanks for tuning in! And a big thanks to all the followers, favers, and reviewers!


	8. Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz Part 2

**Chapter 8 - Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz part 2**

"Aw...crap," Kyoko said, as she stared at the black holes littering the hallway. They were smaller than the black hole that attacked them earlier, being no bigger than fifty cent coins, and seemed to be in a dormant state, with only a minor wind blowing in between them.

"W-Where did all these things come from?" Mami said.

"No frickin' clue, but in a second those things are going to tear apart the entire hall. We better find another way!" Josuke said.

The stand user quickly turned around and looked for another path to Nagisa's room. That was when he glimpsed something big run down the hallway opposite to him. It was too swift for Josuke to get a detailed look, and it had left a trail of small objects on the floor. As Josuke neared the area where he saw the creature, he saw what the objects were: more dots waiting to become black holes.

"Oh goddamnit!" Kyoko said. She and Mami had followed behind Josuke.

"Now there's more!" Mami said. "If we don't find what's causing this soon, this whole floor will be eaten!"

"I saw it…" Josuke said.

"Saw what?" Kyoko asked.

"I saw the「stand」. There's no doubt about it now. The stand's ability is to create these「dots」that become「black holes」." Josuke said.

"Well...how do we stop it?" Kyoko said.

"Simple...we need to track down the「user」and kick his ass. If the user is gone, the stand's「ability」will disappear," Josuke said, as he and the two magical girls felt the breeze pick up in the hallway.

"Crap! That'll have to wait...the black holes are activating soon!" Mami said.

"There's no way out! We're surrounded by those things!" Kyoko said with clear panic in her voice as she surveyed the dots that have spread to all surrounding hallways.

"...Wait...I have a plan," Josuke said, as he dashed back to the original hallway. The girls followed suit. The dots were already reaching waffle size, with the wind no longer a minor breeze but a gale of growing strength. Particles of plaster and cement was beginning to float into the dots.

"We're gonna cross over to the other side." Josuke said, much to the surprise of the two girls.

"Huh? Earth to Josuke...those things are activating! They'll eat my spear before we even reach halfway to the other side." Kyoko said.

"We're not going to use your spear...we're going to use Mami's muskets."

"Huh?" both girls said in unison.

Josuke turned to Mami. "Mami...what does your rifle use as ammunition?"

"W-well...they can fire either regular shots or ribbons. But I don't see how my rifles can help."

"Ribbons? Damn that's even better..." Josuke said, as the dots moved from consuming tiny particles to medium-sized chunks out of the walls, growing in size as they do so.

"Mind cluing us in on what you're planning? Cuz we're screwed if we don't do something soon!" Kyoko said.

"It's simple...we're going to「combine」Mami's ribbons with my Crazy Diamond's powers." Josuke answered. He pointed to the wall at the end of the hallway, past all the black holes. "Mami...shoot a ribbon right there. Make sure it sticks to the wall."

"Wha-"

"Just do it!"

Mami promptly summoned a single musket and shot a ribbon down the hall, impaling the wall at the other side and creating a tightrope. But as she did so, the black holes increased in strength yet again, consuming even larger chunks of the wall. The ribbon that Mami shot was quickly torn apart and devoured by the holes beneath it, leaving behind only the tiny piece lodged in the wall and a piece jutting out of the barrel of Mami's rifle.

"「OH MY GOD」!" Mami yelled, as she pulled back her rifle and stared at the scrap of ribbon.

"Relax...I knew this was going to happen." Josuke said calmly.

"Relax...RELAX!? We're gonna be eaten alive!" Kyoko exclaimed.

"Everyone...grab onto Mami's rifle." Josuke said, grabbing a hold of the barrel of Mami's musket. The two girls looked at him in confusion.

"What for!?" Kyoko asked.

"Just trust me and do it!" Josuke commanded. Kyoko grabbed onto Mami's rifle without further complaint, just as the black holes began to peel back the walls and proceeded to suck out the studs and girders.

"「CRAZY DIAMOND」!" Josuke yelled, summoning his stand and using its restoration ability on the piece of torn ribbon attached to the end of Mami's musket.

Suddenly, all three were yanked off their feet and sped towards the wall at the end of the hallway. Josuke's restoration of the piece of ribbon has caused it to hone in on its sister piece lodged into the wall on the other side. Josuke, Kyoko, and Mami were simply dragged along for the ride, heading towards their destination at tremendous speed, before any of the black holes can consume them. When they finally reached the end of the hallway, the ribbons joined together and Josuke, Kyoko, and Mami were deposited on the floor and fell on their backs, away from the mass of black holes. The holes, after destroying a large majority of the walls, began to fade away.

The two girls opened their eyes in a daze, having closed them earlier in fear of dropping to their deaths.

"W-what just happened?" Mami asked.

"It's simple. I used my Crazy Diamond to restore the scrap of ribbon in your musket. This caused the two pieces to attract each other. All we needed to do was hang on to the rifle." Josuke explained. The two girls stared at him in disbelief.

"...How...how the heck did you know that was even gonna work?" Kyoko said.

"Once you've fought as many stands as I have, you learn some crazy crap along the way." Josuke said smugly.

Josuke, Mami, and Kyoko stood up and brushed themselves off. They landed right near an entrance to a room. A room with the number "567' etched on its doorway.

"Look!" Mami said, pointing to the door. "Isn't that the room where the girl is staying in?"

"Holy crap...we made it!" Kyoko said.

"Alright everyone...be careful. The stand user might still be around." said Josuke.

Mami opened the door and the three stepped inside slowly. The room they found themselves in had only one bed, which was next to an open window. Several monitors and machines surrounded the bed on its left side, all of which were turned off. A closet sat to the left of the doorway. The bed itself was empty and Nagisa Momoe was nowhere to be found.

"The room...it's empty," Mami said. "She's not here..."

"Crap...the window's open. You don't think she's gone through there do you?" Kyoko said, pointing to the window.

"Either that...or the stand user kidnapped her." Josuke said, just as a little girl with white hair and wearing a reddish pink polka dot dress ran out of the closest. She was brandishing a broom and swiftly brought it down on the backside of Josuke's head.

"OW!" Josuke yelled, quickly grabbing the broom before the girl can get in another strike. "What the hell!?"

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME YOU 「MONSTER」'!" the little girl yelled. Her face had visible signs of fear and panic.

"Eh? Monster?" Josuke asked.

"We're not monsters little girl," Mami said. "We're here to rescue a girl called Nagisa Momoe. Are you her?"

The girl's eyes lit up at the recognition of her name.

"Y-yes, I am." The girl answered quietly.

"That's wonderful! We're here to get you out. I don't know if you realized this yet, but the exits are all caved in." Mami said.

Nagisa paused and studied the three strangers in front of her.

"Y-you...are y-you really here to rescue me?" Nagisa said.

"Yes...we are." Mami said with a warm smile.

"O-okay..." Nagisa said, as she began glancing around the room, as if watching out for someone or something. "As long as you protect me from that「monster」!"

"Monster?" Kyoko asked. "What monster?"

"The monster…" Nagisa began to say, before nervously gulping. "The monster...is a「big scary man」...he tried to take me away. B-but I hid in the closet when I heard him coming. He escaped from that window..." She pointed to the open window beside the bed.

Kyoko went to the window and looked outside to search for the big scary man. But he was nowhere in sight.

"Well he isn't here anymore. There's no sign of any 「big scary man」 anywhere." Kyoko said, returning from the window.

"Damn...looks like the「user」managed to escape," Josuke said.

"We'll call the authorities about him later. But first let's get you out of here." Mami said, extending her hand towards Nagisa.

"A-alright." Nagisa said, grabbing Mami's hand. She then turned to Josuke.

"S-sorry about hitting your head Mr. Higashikata…" the girl said shyly.

"Oh that? Don't worry about it. I've taken much harder hits before in my life," Josuke said, grinning as he rubbed the spot where he was hit by the broom. As he, Kyoko, and Mami with Nagisa in tow walked towards the door, Josuke suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to face Nagisa.

"...Wait a minute...did you just call me「Mr. Higashikata」?" Josuke said.

Nagisa's eyes widened at Josuke's remark.

"Huh? O-Oh! I-I saw your name on your name tag." Nagisa said, pointing to the name tag on the staff uniform Josuke was wearing.

"I...see…"Josuke said.

"Is there a problem Josuke?" Kyoko asked.

"Hang on a second," Josuke said, turning back to Nagisa. "If I'm hearing you correctly...you read on my name tag the name 「Higashikata」."

"Um…yeah?" Nagisa said, her voice full of innocence.

"Ah...okay." Josuke said.

All of a sudden, Crazy Diamond materialized out of thin air and began to pummel Nagisa with a barrage of fists.

_**"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARA~!"**_

Nagisa let out a bloodcurdling scream as her body was sent flying through the opposite wall, demolishing it completely. The two magical girls barely had enough time to react. Getting over their shock, they summoned their weapons and pointed them towards Josuke.

"WHAT THE HELL JOSUKE!?" Kyoko yelled.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" Mami bellowed. "YOU JUST KILLED A LITTLE GIRL!"

"Relax…" Josuke said calmly. "She wasn't a normal little girl."

"...what?" Mami said.

"She's...the「stand user」."

"Wha...How the hell do you know that?" Kyoko demanded.

"It was when she said she knew my name was Higashikata from my name tag. But the name tag on my uniform clearly says「Dr. Ikuro B.T. Hashizawa」." Josuke said, holding up the name tag on his uniform.

"W-wait...you mean…" Mami said.

"Yes," Josuke said. "I managed to swipe the name tag off of that doctor we met earlier before he was sucked into the black hole, and then I switched it with mine. There's no possible way that girl could have known my real name...unless she knew who I was beforehand."

The two girls were dumbfounded.

"B-but still! You could have given her a chance to explain herself!" Mami said.

"Oh believe me, she will have that chance...because she isn't dead yet." Josuke said.

Before the girls could say another word, a slow clapping sound resonated from the other side of the wall where Josuke sent Nagisa flying.

"_Damn.__..your stand is...pretty strong.._." Nagisa said, her voice changed to be deeper and more menacing. As she dug herself out of the rubble, Josuke, Kyoko, and Mami saw that her expression and demeanor has changed as well. All signs of innocence were gone from the little girl's face; her mouth formed a scowl and her eyes gave off a large amount of murderous intent. She was no longer a helpless kitten but a predatory jungle cat.

"I thought so…" Josuke said, his glare matching Nagisa's in intensity. "You used your「stand」to protect against「Crazy Diamond」's punches."

Nagisa wiped off the blood from her mouth and brushed off the rubble from her dirtied dress.

"So...wanna explain who you really are?" Josuke said.

Nagisa's lips curled into an evil smirk. Something pulsated in her hair. "Heh heh heh...since I'm going to「erase」you all anyway...you might as well know the truth before you die."

A large black mass began to form behind Nagisa.

"My name is indeed Nagisa Momoe…" Nagisa said.

The mass began to define itself into a humanoid shape. It had large muscular limbs which were thicker than Crazy Diamond's. Covering its black body were coin-sized dark red polka dots. It had a tube-like neck with various wires jutting out of it and connecting to small siphons on its shoulder blades. Its face, in contrast to the rest of its body, was white with yellowish dots on its cheeks, giving it a clown-like quality. Its nose was long, colorful, and pointy. Its eyes were the same kind of robotic eyes that are characteristic of many stands. Its mouth was large, filled with sharp teeth, and twisted into a sinister grin. Two slim, wing-like structures, one red and one blue, jutted out from the sides of its head and ran down to its waist. Kyoko and Mami could not see the creature, but Josuke could see it clearly. It was Nagisa's stand, the one responsible for the black holes and the demise of the doctor.

"...and my stand...「Ballroom Blitz」...represents the Dessert Witch, Charlotte. I am one of twelve members of the「Witch Tarot」."

Nagisa pointed a finger at Josuke. "I've been ordered...to kill you, Josuke Higashikata."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**BALLROOM BLITZ**

**(user: Nagisa Momoe aka Charlotte)**

**Stats**

_Destructive Power: _B

_Speed:_ C

_Range: _A

_Durability: _B

_Precision: _C

_Development Potential: _C

**Abilities**

**Swiss cheese: **Ballroom Blitz can shed the polka dots or "balls" on its body and place them on any surface or object. Once attached to something else, the dot will change in color from red to black. Once it turns black, it will become a black hole that will suck in anything within a 10 feet radius, regardless of the size or density of the object. The holes have an active time of about 5 seconds. (Jojo seconds, not actual seconds.)

* * *

**Author's notes: **This chapter has been a blast to write. First time trying to write a Araki-esque fight, although the "real" fight hasn't really begun yet. I was hesitant to leave in that cheesy line about Nagisa going from a helpless kitten to a jungle cat, but then I realized Jojo is cheesy so it's all good. Although if it's too cringe worthy, let me know and I'll fix it.


	9. Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz Part 3

**Chapter 9 - Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz part 3**

* * *

"Tell me…" Nagisa said, her Ballroom Blitz drooling in anticipation of the bloodshed that is to follow. "What gave you the idea to replace your name tag?"

"Well...since you only bothered to cave in the exits, I assumed this whole ploy was a trap for someone." Josuke said, readying his Crazy Diamond for battle. "And since I'm the new stand user in town, I assumed it was me. And...whoever is targeting me must have known who I am ahead of time."

Kyoko and Mami stood stupefied at the scene unfolding before them. The cute little girl they were supposed to rescue turned out to be a stand user, and a destructive one at that. A stand user in a town where it was thought there were none.

"Charlotte...the dessert...witch?" Mami said. A memory clicked into her head at that moment. She thought back to the witch that nearly took her head off. Its barrier was filled with desserts and it had the same color motif as the dress Nagisa was wearing.

"It...can't be…" Mami stuttered.

Nagisa glanced sideways at the veteran magical girl.

"_Oh-ho_. So you must've encountered my「witch」form before." Nagisa said with a smirk. "Not surprising since you're a magical girl. Too bad for you, you should have been killed by me as a witch. Dying by my stand is way more painful…"

"Hey screw you!" Kyoko said, brandishing her spear towards Nagisa's direction. "Stand user or not, you try anything stupid and we'll cut you down like any other witch!"

Nagisa's smirk disappeared. Her brow furrowed. She shot a glance at Kyoko.

"If you know what's good for you, magical girl..." Nagisa said, her stand cracking its dotted black knuckles. "...you'd better stay out of this. I was only ordered to kill the stand user here who seems to be trying too hard to emulate John Travolta's hair from _Grease_."

The insult immediately reached Josuke's ears. His teeth gritted in anger and his eyes glared with rage.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY HAIR YOU GODDAMN BRAT!?" Josuke furiously cried. Mami and Kyoko slightly flinched.

Nagisa calmly turned back to Josuke.

"You heard me..._your hair is crap_. It should have died with the 50s." Nagisa said. Her words triggered Josuke's temper to a boiling point. Crazy Diamond ran at her with the speed of an angry rhino, fists barred and ready to pulverize the target in front of it.

"_**DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA~!" **_Crazy Diamond shouted, its wall of fists speeding towards Nagisa's face at light speed.

But Nagisa goaded Josuke into attacking on purpose. Her own stand was poised and ready to trade blows. Crazy Diamond's _Doraras _was soon met with Ballroom Blitz's own humongous fists.

"_**MOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGU~!" **_

The two magical girls could not comprehend what was happening. The two combatants are doing nothing but standing apart from each other, and yet random destruction was happening all around the room. The bed cracked into pieces. The medical machines were all swiftly knocked over and pulverized. Craters vaguely in the shape of human foot prints began to litter the floor accompanied by the sound of crushed pavement. The chaos ended when a cracking noise resonated throughout the room and Nagisa was suddenly knocked on her back.

"W-was that a fight?" Kyoko said to Mami. "I didn't see any attacks…"

"I-I guess," Mami said, just as confused as her friend. "That means Josuke won?"

Josuke stood resolute, towering over his defeated opponent. Blood began to trickle down Nagisa's head.

"I took it easy on you despite the insult to my beautiful hair, because you're still only a kid." Josuke said, calming down a bit. "It looks like your stand is too slow to be on par with my Crazy Diamond."

Nagisa sat up. Her face did not show any signs of defeat. Rather, she was smiling.

"Heh heh heh, I was just trying to see how strong your stand really was when I「had the chance」 ." Nagisa said, ignoring her bleeding.

"「Had the chance」?" Josuke said. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Don't you realize yet Josuke?" Nagisa said, her grin getting bigger. "「You are already dead」 ! I don't need to attack you!"

The little girl stood up. She pointed towards the broom that she hit Josuke with earlier, which sat at the base of the closet.

"Remember when I hit you with that「broom」?" Nagisa said.

Josuke's eyes widened, as he hurriedly placed his hand on the back of his head where he was hit by the broom earlier. His fingers felt a slight breeze coming from the upper part of his nape.

"Oh...s***" Josuke said. He turned pale as he suddenly realized the reason why there's a small wind coming from the back of his head.

"What is it Josuke?" Kyoko said. "You look pale!"

"What...what did you do to him?!" Mami yelled to Nagisa. She summoned two rifles and pointed them towards the little girl. Kyoko followed suit and aimed her spear towards Nagisa's heart.

"It's simple...I placed a「dot」on the broom before you idiots entered the room. The「dot」 is now on Josuke. Soon it will become a「black hole」 which will suck his brains out along with the hair he loves so much. Not even I know where they will end up." Nagisa said. She let out a evil laugh.

"RELEASE HIM!" Mami yelled, leveling her rifles with Nagisa's head.

Nagisa touched the blood on her head, unphased by the weapons pointed at her.

"Why don't you make me?" Nagisa said. Ballroom Blitz quickly manifested behind her, its grinning hideous form invisible to the two magical girls.

_Damn you_. Mami thought, as she prepared to attack. But Kyoko beat her to it.

"'Rosso Fantasma!" The red haired magical girl yelled as she summoned seven copies of herself and charged at Nagisa. Mami followed suit and fired round after round at the enemy stand user before them.

"Yare yare…looks like I have to kill you two as well." Nagisa said. Her Ballroom Blitz kicked into action. Its right arm punched away all of Kyoko's duplicates before knocking away Kyoko herself in one huge sweep. With its left arm, it punched away Mami's shots in rapid succession, causing them to be deflected towards the hospital walls and strewing them with bullet holes in the process.

"Kyoko!" Mami said, rushing to aid her friend on the floor.

"C-crap...that hurts." Kyoko said, holding her side as she stood up. Luckily as a magical girl, her body was nigh-invincible.

Josuke stood there silently. Beads of sweat formed on his brow. He has severely underestimated his young opponent, and he had paid the price. The breeze on his head began to make the hair on the back of his nape stand up. He was going to be murdered by a little girl in a few seconds.

Just as despair began to take over Josuke however, he suddenly remembered helpful advice from his father.

"Guys...looks like we are going to have to use「that technique」 ." Josuke said to Kyoko and Mami.

"Huh?" the two girls said in unison.

"What「technique」 ?" Nagisa said, the grin leaving her face. "It's「futile」to fight me. You and your friends will die soon. There is no technique that can possibly help you now."

"Oh, but that is where you are wrong," Josuke said, pointing a finger in the air, his confidence coming back tenfold. "There is a「special technique」 passed down from my family for generations. It is proven to have a「one hundred percent success rate」 ..."

Kyoko and Mami eagerly anticipated what Josuke was going to say. Even Nagisa was enthralled by this supposed technique, de-summoning her stand.

"...and that technique is…" Josuke said. Silence filled the room as all three girls waited anxiously for what invincible technique Josuke is going to reveal.

And that was when Josuke abruptly dashed for the door. "...RUNAWAY!"

"WHAT!?" Kyoko and Mami yelled together, their jaws dropped. Josuke was already past the door and bolting down the hallway. Not wanting to lose track of him, Kyoko and Mami promptly ran out the door as well, despite the inherent confusion in their heads. Nagisa stood in the room quietly, questioning as to what just happened.

"...You friggin' serious?" Nagisa finally said, as she ran out the door in pursuit of her prey. She ran with the power of her stand in her legs, but even so the two magical girls and stand user were already far away, having achieved a head start. She had lost her targets. The throbbing in her hair began anew. "Goddamn it..."

* * *

Josuke, Kyoko, and Mami found themselves hiding in a supply closet having temporarily escaped from Nagisa's wrath. The closet was large enough to accommodate all three and the many rows of medicine and tools on its walls.

"That...was your friggin' plan?" Kyoko said with panting breaths.

"It worked didn't it? We're still alive." Josuke said.

"Well we won't be in a few seconds. We have to get rid of that dot on the back of your head." Mami said.

Josuke sat there in silence. He looked at the Mami and Kyoko with a solemn face.

"I'll...I'll sacrifice myself to let you two escape. There's no hope for me now." Josuke said with sadness in his voice.

The two girls looked at him, looked at each other, and then looked back at him.

"...Josuke…" Kyoko said.

"I know Kyoko. Don't worry about me. I dragged you guys into this. You and Mami must live on…" Josuke said melodramatically.

"...Josuke…" Kyoko said again.

"No please...don't try to talk me out of it." Josuke said.

"JOSUKE!" Kyoko yelled.

"What?" Josuke said.

"We can just cut out the portion of hair the dot is attached to." Kyoko said.

Josuke's melodramaticism ceased. It was true that the dot was attached to the upper part of his nape where his hair grows past. However, even though that specific portion of hair was away from his pompadour, it was still sacrilege to the stand user to cut even one strand, even if it was to prevent his brain from being sucked out.

"Ha ha, that's a good joke!" Josuke said, scoffing at the suggestion. Kyoko and Mami stared at him quietly.

"...I'll hold him down…" Mami said to Kyoko. Several yellow ribbons proceeded to bind Josuke's limbs together.

"「OH MY GOD!」 YOU GUYS ARE SERIOUS!" Josuke said. The fear of losing his hair in such a manner caused him to go into a state of shock. His body's desire for self preservation opposed his mind's desire to protect his hair. As a result, Josuke's conflicting urges prevented him from summoning Crazy Diamond in time.

"Hold still…" Kyoko said, as she pulled out her spear.

"NO PLEASE. I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS GODDAMN IT!" Josuke yelled. The girls ignored him. In one swift motion, Kyoko used the edges of her spear tip to cleanly slice off the part of hair the dot was attached two. Mami hastily grabbed the dot with her ribbons and bounded it together.

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" _Josuke screamed as he broke free of Mami's ribbons. He quickly reached for the back of his head. Although the breeze was gone, he could not help but feel sadness as he clutched flesh where there were once hair.

"Oh calm down ya big baby." Kyoko said.

"Damn it, I am calm!" Josuke said, his fists trembling. "That little girl is gonna pay for putting me through this crap!"

"Umm...guys…" Mami said, holding up the bounded dot like a time bomb waiting to go off. "What are we going to do with this?"

Josuke and Kyoko studied the dot. They could no longer feel a breeze coming from it, and it was a dark red color instead of black.

"Hey...it seems the「dot」is still dormant. Maybe they're slower to activate once they are removed." Josuke said.

"Yeah...but what are we gonna do with it?" Kyoko said.

That was when a light bulb went off in Josuke's head.

"Guys...I have a plan!" Josuke said.

"...Is it running away again?" Kyoko said with a cynical tone.

"No! It's even better...we're going to create a「trap」…" Josuke said, as he pulled out a cheese stick from his pocket that was left over from his lunch.

"What...what are we going to use that cheese stick for?" Mami said.

"It's…the「bait」." Josuke said.

* * *

Nagisa walked down the empty hallways of the ninth floor. She slowed down to a moderate pace once she realized she was in no rush; the black hole will soon activate and devour Josuke. And once the stand user is gone, the two magical girls will be easy prey for Ballroom Blitz.

As she walked further down the hall, Nagisa's nose picked up a scent. It was a familiar scent that Nagisa has known all her life. It was a scent that was denied to her when she was still suffering from the illness, and a scent she longed for what felt like an eternity behind these hospital walls. It was a scent that reminded her about the wonders that life has to offer and the miracles of existence. It was the scent of her favorite thing in the entire universe: cheese. She hurried her pace and ran in the direction where the scent was coming from. She tracked down the smell to a room and barged in without delay.

Nagisa found herself in a room with several hospital beds, with all the curtains drawn up. In front of her was a table with a fan blowing on a plate. And on that plate was the object of Nagisa's desires: a single untouched cheese stick in all its dairy glory. The fan was blowing the scent of the cheese stick right towards Nagisa, and her senses were overwhelmed. Ignoring the thing throbbing in her hair, Nagisa ran towards the table with her arms outstretched and eyes filled with desire, her mouth watering at the prospect of her cheesy prize.

"NOW!" a voice rang out from behind one of the curtains.

"What the-" Nagisa said, only inches away from the table. Her limbs were suddenly ensnared by yellow ribbons that shot out from all directions.

_Goddamn it, it's the yellow haired one's magic! _Nagisa thought, as Josuke, Mami, and Kyoko popped out from behind the curtains.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Josuke said with a huge grin on his face. " I know you can't resist cheese from what the doctors told me!"

"You fell for our trap!" Kyoko exclaimed.

"...A trap!?" Nagisa yelled. A devilish expression formed on her face. Ballroom Blitz was instantaneously called into existence, its big monstrous hands cleaving the ribbons into pieces and freeing its user with barely any effort.

"HA HA! WAS THAT YOUR TRAP!?" Nagisa said. "GUESS IT DIDN'T WORK!"

"Oh no...it worked." Josuke said coolly.

"...Huh?" Nagisa said, the smile on her face disappearing.

"The ribbons aren't the trap. The ribbons were just there to hold you until the「real」trap activated." Mami said.

"Real trap? What real tra-" Nagisa said, cut off mid-sentence as one of her legs suddenly phased through the floor. Caught by surprise, the little girl struggled to get out, when her entire lower body began to phase through the floor as well. She felt a gust of wind coming from beneath her.

"W-what the hell is this? Is this the「work」of your「stand」!?" Nagisa yelled towards Josuke.

"No...it's the work of「your」stand." Josuke said. "You...just stepped into one of your own「black holes」."

"WHAT!?" Nagisa said, gazing down beneath her. There were no holes in sight, only solid floor. "There's no black holes here!"

"That's because…"Kyoko said with a mischievous grin."...I used my illusion magic to disguise that part of the floor as nothing but normal floor tiles. In reality, there's a hole right there. You just can't see it."

"I figured the reason why you stopped the black holes from reaching your room earlier is because you were afraid to be sucked into them yourself." Josuke said. "You just lost kiddo,"

Nagisa was at a loss for words. She has been outsmarted and defeated by her own ability and attraction to cheese-based food products. She could remove the hole, but that would probably bisect her in the process. She could also just let it suck her in but as mentioned earlier, she didn't know where the hole leads to. She was truly defeated. Or so they thought.

"Heh heh heh heh heh…" Nagisa began to laugh.

"Hey...what're you laughing about? Don't you realize you've lost?" Josuke said.

"Hehehehehehehehehehehe…" Nagisa's laugh grew in intensity. "What a clever「plan」. But I have a「plan」of my own…"

"Plan? What friggin' plan?" Kyoko said.

The ground beneath them suddenly began to shake violently. The hospital beds began to roll around and cabinets began to empty their contents onto the floor. The table with the cheese tipped over, causing the fan to fall to the floor with a violent thud.

"W-What is this? An Earthquake?" Mami said.

"Hehehehe...nope," Nagisa said with a sinister grin. "It's all part of my「plan」."

All three turned their attention to the girl being sucked through the floor.

"You see…" Nagisa said, the sinister smile on her face widening."While I was searching for you, I had my「Ballroom Blitz」send some「dots」down the drainage pipes of a nearby bathroom…just in case things went South."

Josuke, Mami, and Kyoko stared at Nagisa in shock.

"If I remember the plumbing of this hospital correctly, the「dots」should be accumulating near the「foundational structures」of this part of the building…" Nagisa said, taking time to appreciate the looks of fear that have appeared on her opponents' faces.

"Y-you…" Mami said.

"A-aw crap!" Kyoko said.

"Y-you're...you're INSANE!" Josuke hollered.

"Of course I'm insane...I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR ORIKO-SAMA!" Nagisa roared, just as the entire room experienced a full ninety degrees tilt.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	10. Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz Part 4

**Chapter 10 - Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz part 4**

MITAKIHARA GENERAL HOSPITAL - NINTH FLOOR 

"What the-," a fireman said, as he felt the floor beneath him shake. "Did anyone else feel that?"

He was part of the rescue effort responsible for moving the rubble blocking the entrance to the next wing, but work halted immediately as the tremor moved through the entire ninth floor. The staff and rescue team quickly stopped what they were doing. The fireman's gaze fell onto a nurse, who seemed to be mesmerized by something outside the window.

"Miss?" The fireman said to the nurse.

"Hey…"The nurse said, pointing a finger at the window. "Is it me...or is the parking lot getting closer?"

The fireman looked out to where the nurse was pointing. The parking lot was indeed getting closer. It took him a few seconds to register what was happening, and once he did, terror seized his body.

"Oh s***…THE HOSPITAL IS TIPPING OVER!" The fireman yelled, as the ground disappeared beneath his feet.

* * *

Josuke slowly opened his eyes. He looked up to the sky and found that night has fallen. He was in a daze and his limbs were sluggish. When he finally moved them, he felt sharp pains run through every part of his body. He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the pain to the best of his ability in order to lift himself up from the pile of rubble he sat on. When he finally managed to sit up, he saw the many wounds inflicted on him and they weren't pretty. Several small pieces of glass were lodged into his shoulders, arms and legs. He was bleeding from the head, cheek, and mouth. He felt a pain in his side which probably meant one or more of his ribs were cracked. He ached everywhere.

Josuke studied his surroundings and found himself sitting in the parking lot, which was covered with piles of debris, several meters high, in all directions. He turned his aching neck to see the remains of the hospital. The whole right side of the building seemed to be ripped out and toppled over. Pavement, girders, broken glass, and wrecked hospital beds covered the surrounding area as far as the eye can see. But Mami and Kyoko were nowhere in sight.

"KYOKO!? MAMI!?" Josuke called out.

"JOSUKE!?" A voice answered back. Josuke turned to his right to see a red haired girl several feet away picking herself up from the debris. It was Kyoko, and although she was injured, her injuries were much lighter than Josuke's due to her magical girl physiology.

"Are you alright?" Kyoko said, swiftly running to Josuke's side.

"I'll live…" Josuke said, wiping off some blood from his mouth.

Kyoko glanced at Josuke's injuries. A horrified expression crossed her face.

"Josuke...your injuries...you said your stand can heal right? Why don't you heal yourself?" Kyoko said.

"About that...I was going to tell you guys earlier...I can't heal myself." Josuke replied. "My Crazy Diamond's healing only works on others."

"S-seriously?"

"Yeah…"

"Crap..."

"We'll worry about that later...where's Mami?"

"_She's right here." _A third voice chimed in. Josuke and Kyoko scanned around for the source of the voice and quickly found it; a couple of feet in front of them was Nagisa Momoe, and behind her was Ballroom Blitz holding an unconscious Mami by the back of her neck. The monstrous stand was drooling from the mouth as always, waiting for the command from its master to end its captive's life.

"Anyone of you dumbasses try anything stupid...I'll decapitate this girl on the spot." Nagisa said, her eyes those of a deranged fanatic.

"DAMN YOU!" Kyoko yelled. She quickly extended her spear, preparing to attack. Josuke quickly held her back with Crazy Diamond, healing her in the process.

"Wait!" Josuke said.

"WHY!? She's going to kill Mami!"

"She's going to kill her even sooner if we act too rashly!"

Josuke turned to face Nagisa. She was injured almost as badly as he was but seemed to be not feeling the pain, or at least ignoring it.

"What do you want?" Josuke asked.

"It's simple...leave this town...or kill yourself," Nagisa said, her stand's grip on Mami tightening slightly. "And maybe then I'll consider releasing your friend here."

"Y-you…" Kyoko said, her arms trembling with fury.

"So what do you say Mr. Higashikata?" Nagisa said, motioning to Mami. "Leave or die. Choose quickly, this girl's life depends on it."

Josuke brushed himself off. He rubbed his neck and rolled his shoulders. He was in no condition to fight on equal ground with Nagisa's stand after sustaining the injuries from the hospital collapse. However, despite the precarious situation he was in, he didn't lose his cool.

"Let's not do anything rash here..."Josuke said, putting his hands up, "Let's...talk things out…"

Nagisa scoffed. "What's the point? I'm the one holding all the chips here. There's no room to negotiate."

"I'm just curious...about some things." Josuke said.

Kyoko looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a small object levitate to Josuke's hand behind his back. It was a dislodged brick, and Josuke was hiding it as he talked to Nagisa.

_What's he planning? _Kyoko thought. _What's a brick gonna do?_

"Curious about what?" Nagisa said, her eyes narrowed.

"Well…" Josuke said, his Crazy Diamond quietly breaking off a piece of the brick in its hand. "Before you collapsed the hospital, you mentioned a 「Oriko-sama」 and the 「Witch Tarot」."

The animosity from Nagisa's face was gone, replaced by an expression of anxiety. Sweat began to trickle down Nagisa's bloodied face.

"Huh...judging from your reaction...they must be very important." Josuke said. "And it seems you are「afraid」 of them. I want to know who they are."

"Y-you think I'll talk? I'll never divulge information about them!" Nagisa shrieked. Her Ballroom Blitz suddenly raised its free arm towards Mami's neck. "You've wasted enough of my time! Say goodbye to your friend!"

Before Kyoko could react, Josuke quickly used his Crazy Diamond to hurl the pebble-sized chunk of brick at Nagisa. The stand's powerful throw caused the brick piece to fly towards Nagisa like a high caliber bullet. Ballroom Blitz sensed the danger to its master and pulled back its free arm and swiftly smacked the brick piece away with its gargantuan strength, causing it to fly miles to Nagisa's left.

"What the hell was that? A pebble? Did you actually think a tiny ass pebble can hurt me?" Nagisa said.

All of a sudden, Josuke threw the rest of the brick to his left side. The brick landed with a loud thump on the ground, a couple of feet away from Nagisa. Both Nagisa and Kyoko were caught off guard by this abrupt action.

"W-Why did you throw down that「brick」?" Nagisa demanded to know.

Josuke stood there silently.

"I asked you...WHY DID YOU THROW DOWN THAT「BRICK」?" Nagisa asked again, rage rising in her voice.

"You'll soon find out," Josuke said calmly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nagisa yelled.

Unbeknownst to her, the piece of pebble that was knocked away arched backwards in mid-air, towards her direction. Unable to react in time, Ballroom Blitz stood motionless as the brick piece phased through its body and struck its user right behind on the side of her head.

"GAAAGH~!"was all Nagisa could say as she lost consciousness. She fell to the floor face down, causing Ballroom Blitz to dissipate and releasing Mami on to the ground. The brick piece bounced off of her head and continued to fly towards the rest of the brick that Josuke threw down. They rejoined to form a whole brick.

"W-What just happened?" Kyoko said, looking at Josuke with a befuddled expression.

"The brick piece I broke off...I「restored」it before i threw it. I knew her stand could easily deflect it from the front, but not from the back or sides if she was「distracted」. I had to throw the rest of the brick to her right so the「trajectory」matched up, that way the restored piece will hone in on the rest of the brick and hit her in the process." Josuke explained.

"..."

"What?"

"Nothing...I'm just glad fighting regular witches doesn't get this complicated."

The two stopped their conversation as they heard a moan coming from Mami; they quickly ran over to her. She, like Kyoko, had injuries that were lighter than Josuke's. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Kyoko and Josuke looking over her.

"W-Wha...happened…" Mami said. She sat up and rubbed the part of her neck where she was grabbed by Nagisa's stand.

"You were held hostage by that girl. But you're safe now." Kyoko said.

"Well...that's a relief." Mami said. "What happened to her?"

"She got knocked out by a pebble." Kyoko said.

"...a pebble?" Mami said. She turned to Josuke and was horrified by what she saw. The pompadoured stand user was bleeding from head to toe with several small foreign objects lodged into his body.

"J-Josuke...you're badly hurt!" Mami said.

"Welp...can't do anything about that. My stand only「works」on「others」...like this…" Josuke said. Mami widened her eyes as she realized all pain from her body ceased to be. She stood up and was perfectly healthy, without a scratch in sight. Even the damage to her clothes disappeared.

"Y-you healed me?" Mami said to Josuke.

"Yeah...after all, you guys wanted a「demonstration」of my powers right? Well...now that I've taken care of that...I feel like taking a small nap." Josuke said. His injuries finally taking their toll, Josuke's legs gave out and he slumped to the ground. Kyoko swiftly ran to him and held him up.

"J-Josuke...you said your stand can't heal yourself?" Mami asked.

"Yeah…" Josuke replied weakly.

"Well why didn't you say so earlier!" Mami said, taking Josuke away from Kyoko and gently laying him on the ground. She put her hands on his chest.

"What...are you...doing...Mami?" Josuke said, the strength steadily leaving from his voice.

"Save your strength...I'm going to use healing magic on you." Mami said, as a bright light began to emit from her hands. The light washed over Josuke's wounded body, causing his injuries to miraculously disappear.

Josuke, brought back from the brink of unconsciousness, snapped his eyes open and saw that his own body has been fixed. The glass shards lodged in his body has also been removed, discarded by several small wire-like ribbons.

"I guess we're even." Mami said, giving Josuke a radiant smile.

"Heh...I guess we are…" Josuke said, smiling back. With renewed energy, he brushed off the dirt of his hospital uniform and pulled out a comb from his pants pocket, which he used to give his trademark pompadour a sweep.

"Hey guys!" Kyoko said. Mami and Josuke glanced over to see she was poking the knocked out Nagisa with the blunt end of her spear. "What do we do with her?"

"She's dangerous...but it doesn't feel right to just kill her." Mami said.

_That's right...something does feel odd about this whole situation. _Josuke thought to himself. _What kind of eleven year old girl acts like that? Heck, what kind of eleven year old references the movie 'Grease'? Come to think of it...I did see something strange in the girl's hair as I was fighting her. _As he thought this, Josuke realized he has heard about something like this before. He thought back to when he first met Okuyasu's father chained up in the attic of the Nijimura residence. Apparently, Okuyasu's father was infected with a「flesh bud」,a parasite implanted on him by a man named「Dio Brando」. Jotaro also told stories of these same flesh buds and how they controlled a high school transfer student who liked cherries and a womanizing frenchman. These flesh buds work by injecting 「charisma」 into hosts, causing them to do things they normally wouldn't do.

"Wait a minute…" Josuke said, kneeling down beside Nagisa and flipping her over. Her face looked strangely serene and there were no traces of any malice. He proceeded to heal her injuries with his stand.

"Josuke...what are you doing?" Mami asked.

"Yeah...why did you heal her? She can wake up and attack us any minute!" Kyoko said.

"I don't think that will be the case." Josuke said.

"Whaddya mean by that?" Kyoko asked.

"This is only a hunch...but I think「someone」is controlling this girl." Josuke replied.

"Controlling?" Mami said.

Josuke moved his hand over Nagisa's hairline. He felt something move under his palm. Without hesitation, he quickly parted the girl's hair with his fingers, and what he saw underneath her hair nearly made his stomach turn.

Lodged into Nagisa's sculp was a small, pulsating growth no bigger than his thumb. The growth had the color and texture of diseased flesh and had multiple root-like structures sticking out of it, which were digging into the girl's forehead. It continued to throb violently even when its host was unconscious. There was no doubt in Josuke's mind that the sickly growth is indeed a flesh bud, and the cause behind Nagisa's animosity towards him and his friends.

"Oh...my...God…" Mami said, putting her hand to her mouth. Her face turned green.

"T-The hell is that thing? I'm gonna be sick…" Kyoko said, holding her stomach and sticking out her tongue.

"Crap...I knew it," Josuke said. "This girl was never evil. She's been implanted with a「flesh bud」."

"What...in the world is a flesh bud?" Mami asked.

"I heard about these things from my friend and my nephew. Apparently once planted on someone, they will control that person down to the emotions they feel." Josuke said, the flesh bud still pulsating.

"You mean...like a witch's kiss?" Kyoko said.

"Yeah...except this didn't come from a witch," Josuke said. "This came from a「vampire」."

"A VAMPIRE!?" the two girls yelled in unison.

Josuke put his hand on the sides of Nagisa's cheeks. Crazy Diamond's arm popped out of Josuke's and grasped the flesh bud with its fingers, and proceeded to pull the parasite out. Mami and Kyoko could do nothing but stare as the flesh bud began to float away from Nagisa's head.

"What's happening?" Mami asked.

"I've never tried this before, but if Jotaro's「Star Platinum」can do it, I can at least damn try!" Josuke said, his stand's grip on the bud steadily tightening.

"Try what!?" Kyoko said.

"I'm going to pull this son of a bitch out." Josuke said, as his stand managed to pull the bud far enough for one of its roots to pop out. The tentacle-like root flailed wildly in the air until it touched Josuke's hand, where it began to dig into the stand user's flesh.

"J-Josuke! The tentacle! It's going inside you!" Kyoko yelled.

Josuke ignored her. He needed every ounce of concentration to remove the bud without damaging Nagisa's brain. He had confidence in his Crazy Diamond (it caught Star Platinum off guard during his first meeting with Jotaro after all), but even the slightest misstep will end the girl's life. And there were so much to learn from the girl, such as who is Oriko-sama, who are the Witch Tarot, why they ordered the attack on him, and why there are stand users in Mitakihara when there should only be magical girls and witches. It was vital that Josuke saves her life if he ever wants to solve the plethora of mysteries unfolding before him.

"Josuke! Let go! It's going to take over you next!" Mami shouted.

"Quiet!" Josuke yelled. He lacked the calm stoicism of Jotaro and was sweating profusely. The tentacle squirmed its way up from his arm to his face, and was steadily reaching his brain.

"JOSUKE!" Mami yelled.

Just as the tentacle was about to reach Josuke's brain, Crazy Diamond hit a snag with the flesh bud. With one powerful tug, the roots of the structure were completely removed from Nagisa's brain safely. Not wasting a second, the stand quickly yanked the bud away from its user, the tentacle quickly retracting away from Josuke's head and arm. The bud flailed its tentacles around, trying desperately to find a new host to cling upon.

"MAMI!" Josuke yelled. Mami pulled out a rifle without hesitation and blasted the bud from Crazy Diamond's hands, obliterating the parasite completely with magic.

Exhausted, Josuke fell on his back and took a deep breath. "*phew*, I gotta tell Jotaro about that…never doing that crap again."

"You did it? She's back to normal?" Mami said. She looked over at Nagisa.

"Should be…" Josuke said.

Kyoko checked for Nagisa's pulse and found one. "She's alive!"

"Good...we're going to need to interrogate her about a _lot _of things." Josuke said, when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

All three turned around to see a man in a doctor's coat running towards the trio. It was Dr. Ikuro B.T. Hashizawa, the doctor who everyone thought was devoured and killed by one of Ballroom Blitz's black holes, except the「killed」part turned out to be false. He wore some bandages on his right arm, where the pieces of glass had cut him. But they weren't deep cuts and he was in better shape than expected.

"HEY! What happened here? You guys alright?" the doctor asked.

"Doc? I thought you were dead!" Josuke said.

"I thought so too, until I woke up and found myself on the 2nd floor on the other side of the hospital." the doctor said. "Frankly, I don't know what the hell is going on! This whole night is so goddamn bizarre!"

_Of course, _Josuke thought. _Nagisa said she doesn't know where her holes lead to too, but that doesn't mean they destroy whatever they suck in. Stands reflect the user, and her stand was never evil! It really was all in the bud!_

"Hey look man, we're going to need all the helping hands we can get. There's injured people everywhere! Some are still trapped under the rubble" the doctor said. He beckoned Josuke to follow him.

Josuke looked over his shoulder to Mami, who was now cradling the unconscious Nagisa in her arms, and Kyoko who was standing beside her.

"You guys...take her somewhere safe." Josuke said.

"Where are you going?" Kyoko asked.

"I'm going to do what I always do...「fix」people." Josuke said. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Hey…" the doctor said, pointing to Nagisa. "Is that...Nagisa Momoe? What happened to her? I can't let a couple of strangers take a patient from the hospital just like that! Not without the proper release forms! That's kidnapping!"

Josuke put a hand on Dr. Hashizsawa and flashed him a grin. "Don't sweat it. Just let me contact a man named Jotaro Kujo. He's with the Speedwagon Foundation. He'll give you the proper paperwork and we'll have this whole thing sorted out..."

Josuke and the doctor walked away from Mami and Kyoko, to the other side of the ruins, near the sound of sirens and panicking people. The two girls stood quietly, taking time to reflect on all that has happened in the past couple of hours.

"Hey Mami, looks like things are getting interesting in this town," Kyoko said, turning off her magical girl form and pulling out a box of Rocky from her shorts pocket. "I mean...a friggin vampire? Seriously? Witches weren't enough?"

"Yeah…" Mami said.

"Something on your mind?"

"It's just...I wonder where Homura went?"

* * *

? ? ? - 8:00 PM

Madoka Kaname woke up in a daze. The last couple of hours have been confusing. She remembered walking home alone after hanging out with Sayaka and Hitomi at the mall. On her way back to her house, she heard a rustling sound in some nearby bushes when she blacked out all of a sudden. That was hours ago. Bewildered, Madoka opened her eyes to get a sense of where she was now.

"Where am I?" The middle school student said as she studied her surroundings. She was sitting on a bench in front of one of Mitakihara's artificial rivers. In front of her was a glistening fountain strewn with vibrant lights. Night has fallen, but the street lights, the fountain, and the city lights on the other side of the river provided ample illumination. She glanced down at her watch to see it was now 8:00 PM.

_Eight o'clock? Why is it so late? How did I get here? _Madoka thought. She realized that her schoolbag and her cellphone was not with her and that she had no way to call home or contact anyone for help. She began to get worried.

And that was when she felt something lick her fingers from underneath the bench.

"_My my...how do I say this...I just contracted a_「_boner_」…"

**TO BE CONTINUED **

* * *

**Author's notes: **I think this is my longest chapter yet. Still trying to get in the habit of coming up with over the top Araki style fights. Hopefully I'll get better next chapter.

And I'm unsure about the limits of Mami's healing magic (the wiki doesn't give me a definitive answer), so I'm just going to assume it heals people normally and is weaker than Sayaka's.


	11. A Truly Roundabout Path Part 1

**Chapter 11 - A truly Roundabout path part 1**

* * *

"_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!~" _Madoka screamed.

She jumped off the bench the moment she heard the voice, and tried to run. She tripped and fell on to the floor as a result of her overwhelming panic. She turned around to see something moving in the darkness under the bench. Her body trembled with terror.

"S-stay...stay away!" Madoka yelled, putting her hand up in front of her. She was about to pick herself up and run away again when she heard another voice.

"Wait...don't go."

This voice was different from the one earlier. It was lighter and less gruff; more kid friendly. Madoka recognized it as Kyubey's voice. She looked under the bench again and saw a cat-sized form move out from the shadows. It was indeed Kyubey, but he was severely changed. The incubator had a patch of blonde hair that sat between his ears, and he was wearing clothes for once; a white business suit and a tie decorated with skulls. Madoka would not have recognized him if it weren't for his beady little eyes and default smile.

"K-Kyubey?" Madoka said, the fear slightly disappearing from her voice.

"Yes, its me."

"W-What happened to you? W-Why am I here? What was that voice earlier?" Madoka questioned, almost running out of breath. She had too many questions on her mind.

"Madoka...I need you to contract with me right now." The incubator replied.

"Huh? W-Why?"

"The truth is...we're both in danger…" Kyubey said, his tone more serious than usual.

"W-What danger? What's going on!?" Madoka said.

The incubator paused for a moment. Suddenly a violent convulsion wracked his tiny body. As the convulsion ended, the incubator regained his composure.

"Damn...he's trying to regain control…" Kyubey said, shaking his head as if trying to shrug off something. He turned around to see Madoka standing up, visibly shaken.

"Since I don't know how to say this...I'll just put it bluntly," Kyubey said. He slowly turned his head upwards until he made eye contact with Madoka. "...There's a ghost inside me."

'...What?" was all the middle school student could say. She completely did not expect the incubator to talk about ghosts.

"...A...ghost? Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"Oh don't be ridiculous. My race has no sense of humor. The truth is, there really is a ghost inside me. His name is Yoshikage Kira, and he wants to do things to you Madoka Kaname...terrible things."

Madoka's eyes widened.

"I'm doing all I can to stave off his influence," Kyubey continued. "I'm even diverting some power from the hive mind. But this ghost...I can't believe I'm saying this...is too strong. I need you to wish him away."

"W-wish him away? Me?"

"Yes you. You're the only magical girl candidate here. And you have enough potential to easily get rid of him. All it takes is one wish, you can do it."

Madoka Kaname stood silent. She did not know whether to believe Kyubey's story or not. She believed in witches because she saw them for herself, but she has never seen a ghost, nor did she ever hear Mami mention ghosts. Yet, she never figured Kyubey to be the type to resort to ridiculous ghost stories to scare potential magical girls into contracting. Either he was really desperate to get her to contract, or he was telling the truth, and she hoped it wasn't the latter.

Kyubey sensed the girl's doubt. "You don't believe me do you?"

"I...I…" Madoka stuttered.

"Let me ask you this...how did you think you got here?"

Madoka felt a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. She was unwilling to believe Kyubey's ghost is real, but the fact it might be responsible for her current predicament made her feel worse.

"I'll tell you...the ghost did it." Kyubey said coldly, oblivious to the girl's emotional distress. "He was the one who brought you here. He told me this place would be「ideal」since there's no「witnesses」here during this time."

"W-What does the ghost want with me?" Madoka said.

"Well…he wants to kill you."

Madoka's heart skipped a beat.

"Yes...and he won't stop there. I've heard his thoughts. He's going to go after Mami next. And then Sayaka. He won't stop until every magical girl is dead."

"K-Kyubey! Stop! This joke isn't funny anymore!" Madoka yelled, slight drops of tears forming in her eyes. She was in heavy denial, but the incubator will have none of it.

"Oh? You still think I'm lying? Maybe I should just let the ghost kill you to prove my point. And if that happens you'll never see your friends and family again. You'll never taste your dad's cooking or play with your little brother ever again. Do you really want that?"

Madoka didn't say anything. All she could do was sob. But the incubator pressed on further.

"Just one wish. One wish is all it would take, and both of our problems are solved. You live, your friends live, and I get rid of the parasite inside me."

The incubator was getting impatient.

"Come on...what are you waiting for!?" Kyubey yelled. Madoka never heard Kyubey yell like that before. "Hurry up and make the wish! I'm going to lose control so-"

The incubator was cut off mid-sentence as a barrage of hand gun bullets shot forth and sprayed his body. Madoka stopped sobbing, gaping at the surprise attack on Kyubey. She collapsed to the floor trembling.

"Madoka...are you alright?"

Madoka turned around to see Homura Akemi standing behind her, holding a smoking pistol in her hand. Madoka's tears of fear turned into tears of joy. Finally, there was a familiar face that can help her. Madoka quickly ran over and gave Homura a tight hug. Her sobs became uncontrollable.

"Madoka...you're safe now…" Homura said, gently caressing her best friend.

"H-Homura…" Madoka said, still visibly shaken from her ordeal.

It's okay...I'm here to protect you."

"H-Homura...K-Kyubey…h-he."

"What is it Madoka?"

"H-He said s-some scary things…."

"Did he try to force you into a contract?"

Madoka brushed off some of her tears. "Y-yes...but this time was different."

_Different? _Homura thought.

"H-He said…he said there's a ghost inside him...and it's going to kill me…"

_What? The incubator would never say something ridiculous as that!_

"Madoka...are you sure that's what Kyubey said?"

"Y-yes...I'm sure!"

"But he's an alien. He doesn't believe in ghosts."

"_That was before he met me," _A third voice interrupted. Homura immediately went on the alert. This voice was certainly not the incubator's.

"Madoka...get behind me!" Homura commanded. She quickly reloaded her pistol and went into a defensive position. She hastily scanned the area for the source of the voice, but there was nobody in sight.

"_Hmmmm...I originally wasn't planning on going on a double date. But my_「_Killer Queen_」 _can accommodate you both."_

Homura was on edge. Her instincts told her that there was something deadly lurking in the nearby vicinity, but she couldn't find it. Her eyes fell on Kyubey's hole-ridden corpse. Caught off guard by the incubator's changed appearance, she almost missed seeing a bullet dislodge itself from the body. Soon more and more bullets began popping out from Kyubey's remains, landing on the ground like popcorn pellets. Homura could not believe what she was seeing; the cadaver began to move itself.

To call it a corpse was no longer accurate. Despite the bullet wounds littering its surface, the incubator's body was animated with life, sitting itself up. It began to scratch itself like a house cat.

_What...the...Hell_ Homura thought. She expected Kyubey to teleport into a new body and eat the old one. She's seen it happen several times. What she didn't expect was for the old one to move and come back to life.

The not-so-dead incubator turned to face Homura, causing her to cringe. But she didn't cringe at the creature because it was filled with holes. She cringed because the face that stared at her was not Kyubey's. Rather it was a face that was full of emotion; its mouth was in a scowl and its brow was furrowed. Its eyes were not beady but large and almost human-like in appearance. Homura reloaded her gun, having trouble comprehending what is going on. She heard Madoka scream behind her. She looked back to see that Madoka has fainted from the incubator's sudden resurrection.

The creature spoke. "啊啊啊...I still haven't figured out Kyubey-san's trick of getting new bodies. But I guess this will have to do for now."

Homura turned to face the creature. She pointed the gun right at its face.

"Who...what are you?" Homura asked.

The creature's mouth curled into a grin. "Oh nothing...I'm just a「tourist」." It began to move towards Homura. "And I must say...you have really pretty「hands」."

"DON'T MOVE!" Homura yelled, readying her weapon.

The creature ignored the threat. "Or what? You're gonna shoot me? You just tried that a second ago," It crept closer.

"I mean it!" Homura yelled as she retreated back slowly.

"Come now, I just removed those bullets you shot earlier, and that was when Kyubey-san was in「control」. The little bastard. But now that I'm in the「pilot seat」, your weapons won't even be able to touch me."

"Kyubey? What did you do to him?"

The creature laughed. "He was gone right when you shot him. That moment of「distraction」allowed me to take「complete control」."

Homura's gun arm began to tremble as the creature continued its advance. "What are you...really?" She asked.

The creature stopped momentarily to scratch itself behind the ear. "I'm a「ghost」 of course." It replied nonchalantly.

"A...ghost?"

"Yes."

"A...real ghost?"

"The genuine article."

"An...actual...legitimate ghost?"

"Oh for fu-...I already said yes didn't I? You magical girls fight「witches」all the time, so why don't you believe in「ghosts」?"

"I...see…" Homura said. She pulled back her gun and put her shield behind her back.

"Then I guess...Reimi Sugimoto was telling the truth after all." Homura said.

The not-so-dead incubator's ears perked up. It was no longer nonchalant. Its eyes widened in surprise as it heard a familiar name.

"What did you just say!?" The creature said.

Without giving a chance for the creature to react, Homura threw away her handgun. She pulled out a tommy gun from her shield, aimed it at her adversary, and pressed firmly on the trigger. A wall of bullets sped towards the reanimated incubator. However the bullets never reached their target. They were quickly swiped away by an invisible force only a few inches away from the creature.

Undistracted by the failure of her first attack, Homura pulled out a grenade. Using her fast reflexes, she immediately stopped time, pulled the pin off with her teeth, and threw it towards her opponent. With time stopped, Homura grabbed Madoka and brought her to a safe location; a bench several yards away. With her friend out of the war zone, the magical girl restarted time. The creature blinked its eyes at the grenade that suddenly appeared in front of it.

"啊," was all it managed to say, before being consumed by a flash of light and fire.

The sound of the explosion resonated throughout the rest of the area. The detonation rocked the entire pier, taking out a large chunk of it in the process. A veil of smoke and dust surrounded the blast area as pieces of debris fell into the river nearby. As the smoke cleared, the creature was gone. There was not a trace of its remains in sight.

Homura breathed a sigh of relief. She turned around and began to slowly walk to the bench where Madoka was, thinking the worst was over. That was until she heard a voice behind her.

"Goddamn...you almost had me there…"

Homura quickly sprung around, only to be met with a blow to the stomach. The blow felt like a kick, but there were no visible assailants in sight. It was a powerful blow, causing the magical girl to fly backwards several meters. She landed forcibly on the floor and coughed up blood. Whatever the attack was, it was strong even by magical girl standards. Homura stood up clutching her side, wincing in pain as she searched around for her attacker. Losing her tommy gun to the river as a result of the surprise attack, she wasted no time in pulling out an another weapon, this time a glock.

"Lucky for you...I didn't want to turn you into a「bomb」just yet."

Homura scanned her immediate surroundings, but there were no one in sight. It was just her and a fainted Madoka on the pier. The voice called to her again.

"Now...what I want to know is...how the hell do you know about「Reimi Sugimoto」?"

Homura could not pinpoint the source of the voice. It seemed to be moving and not staying in one single location. However, even though she couldn't see her adversary, she knew full well its true identity the moment it questioned about Reimi Sugimoto.

"Reimi came to me earlier...she told me who you are...Yoshikage Kira!" Homura said to the darkness. There was no immediate reply. Silence permeated the air.

"That「bitch」is still after me? Can't she just enjoy the afterlife for once? Talk about obsessive..." Kira finally said.

The sound of striking metal reached Homura's ears. The street lights on the pier began to topple over. They smashed together like thin metallic dominoes, their lights being crushed as they fell. With the light sources they provided gone, darkness began to cover two thirds of the pier.

"There's too much「light」here." Kira called out, as the street lights were chucked into the river. "I'll make this whole incident seem like a gas leak explosion. I don't want people to know what I'm about to 「do」to you and your friend…Homura Akemi."

Homura swung around, weapon in hand. She was still unable to locate Kira.

"How...How do you know my name?" Homura asked.

"One of the perks of being a ghost, I can read Kyubey-san's memories. There's a lot of things in here about you, but most of it isn't pleasant…"

Homura didn't let him finish his sentence. She activated her magic and time stopped. The river ceased its flowing and the leaves ceased their rustling. The only sound the magical girl could hear was her own breathing.

Homura thought back to what Reimi told her. At first she was hesitant to believe the ghost girl, but seeing Kira in Kyubey's body had made her a believer. Reimi explained how stands worked, and how non-stand users cannot see or touch stands. But, unless it was part of the stand's ability, the user should be visible. According to Reimi, Kira's stand, Killer Queen, could turn things into bombs, but could not turn its user invisible nor move in stopped time. With this information, she hoped stopping time can allow her to catch Kira off guard and then ambush him from wherever he was hiding. She leaped across the pier and searched everywhere. But the search was fruitless; Kira was nowhere in sight.

The time stop was running out. Homura began to lose her composure. She glanced over to the bench where she laid the sleeping Madoka. Her friend's tears had dried and she looked peaceful. As she saw her face, Homura experienced renewed hope and her lost composure was quickly regained. She needed to do everything she can to protect Madoka, no matter what. The time stop only had a few seconds left, but Homura knew what to do. Every time she met an opponent that couldn't be defeated with time stop and her weapons, she would rewind time to before the encounter happened; to better prepare for it the next time. The only enemy she's ever encountered so far that forced her to rewind time was the legendary witch Walpurgis Night, and now it seems she's going to have to add Yoshikage Kira to the list.

Time resumed. The sound of the river flowing and the leaves rustling can be heard again. She prepared her magic, planning to rewind time before Madoka was kidnapped by Kira, to stop this confrontation before it even began. Just as the gadgets on her shield began to spin, she heard a voice coming from right behind her.

"_I would throw away that_「_shield_」_of yours if I were you…"_

Homura froze. The source of the voice came from only a few inches away. She heard a clicking noise.

Searing heat ripped into her body as her shield exploded.

**TO BE CONTINUED **


	12. A Truly Roundabout Path Part 2

**Chapter 12 - A Truly Roundabout Path Part 2**

* * *

_The Nutcracker Witch_

_Its nature is_「_self-sufficiency_」

_Its gallant form, which once split many nuts, is now useless_

_Without any other purpose, this witch's last wish is her own execution_

_However, a mere decapitation will not clear away the witch's sins._

_This foolish witch will_「_forever_」_remain in this realm_

「_Repeating_」_the procession to her execution._

* * *

"Heh, that was easier than I thought," Kira said to himself, as he leaped out of Killer Queen's stomach compartment.

At first he was worried about fighting Homura Akemi. He read in Kyubey's memories that she had powerful time manipulation abilities, and it wasn't the first time he got his ass kicked by a time stopper. However, the serial killer realized he was in a new body, one that was cat-sized; a body that allowed him to hide in the hollow cavity inside his stand's abdomen. Hiding inside his own stand not only rendered him invisible to Homura, but also made him immune to her attacks as well. He used his own stand as a makeshift bomb shelter and it worked. Yoshikage Kira smiled smugly at the success of his plan.

The diminutive murderer studied his handy work. He turned Homura's shield into a bomb while he was invisible and detonated it the moment he saw the shield moving, and now there were debris and a wall of smoke where the magical once stood. But as the smoke cleared, Homura's unconscious body came into view. She laid face down with a visible burn mark on her arm where her shield used to be. Her outfit was severely scratched up and she was covered in dust and wounds, but she was still in mostly one piece. Kira was surprised at first; his Killer Queen should have eliminated the body entirely. Kira scanned Kyubey's memories for an answer and quickly found it. It seemed that magical girls have a higher durability than humans and the only way to properly kill one is to destroy their soul gem.

_Well now, that shouldn't be too hard. _Kira said, walking over on all fours to where Homura's body lay. He reached out with one ear and lifted up the girl's hand. He turned it over and saw a bluish diamond glowing on the back of it. It had a single large crack on it.

_This must be it, the girl's soul gem. _Kira thought. He called out his stand, a muscular feline monstrosity with a blank piercing stare. Killer Queen stretched its back, formed devil horns with its hands and bent its arms at right angles; this was its trademark pose before it turned an object into a bomb. As energy gathered in its fingertip, Killer Queen was stopped by Kira. Kira's desire for blowing up the soul gem was temporarily put on hold as he began rubbing Homura's palm. He was overcome with a new desire.

It was the softest palm Kira has ever felt in his life. Pleasure appeared on his face as he began pressing the palm against his cheek. He remembered that a great man once said professionals and skilled people in general had soft palms. If that was the case, then the girl sprawled unconscious on the floor must have had several lifetimes worth of skills.

_This hand...its such a fine specimen. I must have it! _Killer Queen resumed its task of building up energy.

_Yes...soon I shall have- ...what the? _Kira thought, stopping Killer Queen again. He was holding Homura's hand palm up when he felt something crawling on the other side of it. The serial killer turned the hand over, and what he saw nearly made him jump back. Right beside the girl's soul gem was a large bug; the most unusual bug Kira has ever seen. Its body was in the shape of a bucket, with six spindly limbs and a small mosquito-like head sprouting from its base. The word "ELO" was etched on its side in runes, and it gave off a faint bio-luminescent glow.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊!" Kira yelled, as he brought down his other ear in an attempt to smack the bug. The bug did not fly away, seemingly unafraid of being smacked, and instead stood there on Homura's hand making a buzzing sound. When Kira believed he had hit the bug, his ear suddenly phased through the creature and smacked Homura's hand instead.

"Eh?" Kira said. He put a paw up to the bug and found that its visage was bleeding through. He can even see through it to Homura's soul gem. That's when a thought occurred to him. The bug wasn't a bug, it was a stand in the shape of a bug.

To say Kira was surprised would be an understatement. Kyubey's memories did not mention any stand user with a bug-like stand in Mitakihara. In fact, there should be no native stand users in this town at all. And yet, here was a stand right in front of him, sitting right on top of his quarry. The bug stand's bucket body began to open up like a flower, revealing a long thick proboscis. At the end of the stand's proboscis was something that made Kira do a double take; it was a decorated stone arrow tip, an arrow tip that was very familiar to Kira. It was a fragment of the stand arrow, a mystical artifact containing space bacteria that can turn worthy people into stand users.

"What the hell is that doing here!?" Kira yelled out, as the bug stand pierced Homura's soul gem with the arrow tip. Killer Queen immediately brought down its hand on the insect the moment Kira registered what happened. But the bug was too quick; it soon turned into a ball of light and shot into the fountain a couple of meters away. Kira, not wanting to lose something as precious as a stand arrow, chased after the stand using his new body's agility.

As Kira neared the fountain, the bug stand reappeared out of the fountain's lights. The stand was ridiculously fast, to the point where Killer Queen's own superhuman reflexes had trouble keeping up. It reached out its hands to grab the bug stand, but it was too quick and agile. The bug turned into light again and shot towards the city lights on the other side of the river with unbelievable speed, being gone in less than a nanosecond. The bug stand escaped, taking the arrow with it. Kira slammed his fist on the floor in frustration as a result of having failed to catch his target.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊, that「stand」had the arrow! Which means…which means there must be more 「stand users」here than Kyubey realized!" Kira began to chew the tips of his incubator ears as if they were fingertips. "Damn damn damn. I shouldn't have come to this town.「Stand users attract other stand users」'. Its all because I wanted to have the hands of that damn pink haired girl."

Kira halted his thoughts as a new one wormed into his head.

_Wait...the Akemi girl...she was pierced!...Oh sh-_

Kira's thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling sound coming from behind him.

_ゴゴゴ__ゴゴゴ__ゴゴゴ__ゴゴゴ_

* * *

_I'm finished_. Homura thought. Although she was still in one piece, the damage to her body was overwhelming. The explosion was no ordinary explosion; it was meant to completely annihilate a regular human down to the last cell. Even a magical girl could not fully recover from an attack of that caliber. Homura could feel her consciousness gradually slipping away. The agonizing pain that once wracked her body soon turned into a chilling numbness. She couldn't even taste the blood in her own mouth anymore. Her body was beyond repair, even with the strongest healing magic. Her shield, which was the source of her chronokinetic powers, was gone. The magical girl could not help but feel despair in this situation, as the strength drained out of her body.

Homura's thoughts turned to Madoka. _I'm sorry...I couldn't protect you…_

The magical girl began to feel regret. Reimi had warned her that facing Kira one on one would not be the best idea, and she suggested teaming up with Josuke who was in town. But she told Reimi that she will go in alone, having burned the bridge with Josuke the moment they met. The truth was, Homura was hesitant to befriend new people. She believed getting too close to others would only be setting her up for pain and tragedy. Madoka, her only friend, was no exception; her love being the sole reason why Homura torments herself through different timelines. But as she laid dying, Homura had a change of heart. She realized maybe the lone wolf act wasn't the way to go about things; that maybe having more than one friend once in a while wouldn't hurt, and that maybe she should have trusted Josuke more. She stopped thinking about what she could have done, and waited quietly for death's arrival.

But death did not come. A voice appeared in Homura's head instead.

"_...In and around the lake…"_

Homura's slipping consciousness ceased slipping. She heard the voice very vividly in her mind, but couldn't put a finger on who it belonged too. It had a musical quality and gave her a warm and pleasant feeling.

"..._The words will make you out 'n' out…"_

_Is this...singing? _Homura thought. The numbness in her body began to recede. Her body began to feel energy coursing through it. She was gaining her strength back.

"..._I'll be your_「_Roundabout_」_..."_

Homura woke up.

* * *

_ゴゴゴ__ゴゴゴ__ゴゴゴ__ゴゴゴ_

Kira looked back to Homura, to where the rumbling noise came from. What he saw caused him to stiffen with fear.

Homura was no longer on the ground. She was standing up, resolute and filled with vitality despite the visible injuries on her body. She was no longer wearing her magical girl uniform and instead was back into her regular school outfit. Her eyes were not the eyes of a person admitting defeat; they were filled with equal parts anger and determination. She lifted a finger and pointed it at Kira's direction.

"Is...that...your「stand」?" Homura said.

If Kira still had a heart, it would have skipped not just a single beat, but several beats. He realized Homura wasn't pointing at him but to something behind him; she was pointing at Killer Queen, who was still floating around Kira.

"That...cat-like monster with the creepy eyes...that's your「Killer Queen」isn't it?" Homura said. Her voice was firm and did not waver.

The once calm serial killer lost his cool. He had won against Homura by relying on the fact that she couldn't see his stand or attack it. But now she can quite clearly see his Killer Queen, and he feared the worst.

Just then, Kira saw something appear behind Homura. At first it looked like a floating shadow, but a second later it began to solidify into a more definitive shape. It was a humanoid entity, with a slim feminine build. It wore a large black cape that was enclosed over its body like a curtain and had two small black wings jutting out from its shoulder blades. It had a mane of white hair with two long pigtail braids that were tied together into a symbol that resembled the number eight. On its head sat what looked like a cross between a witch's hat and a old fashioned vinyl record with the word "FRAGILE" written on its rim. The entity looked up and Kira saw its face; it had grey skin, an unsmiling mouth, a small ridge of a nose, metallic eyes, and it wore what looked like a pair of glasses.

"Kira...I'd like you to meet「Roundabout」'." Homura said, gesturing to the creature behind her. "I guess it's a stand as well."

Kira began to gnaw on his "fingers" frantically. _I don't believe it! I came to this town to kill magical girls...and now one of them has a goddamn stand! Things are NOT coming up Kira! _His fear was quite obvious.

"What's the matter?" Homura said in a slightly condescending tone. "You look afraid."

Kira regained his composure. He studied Homura's stand and realized it was a foot shorter than Killer Queen. On top of all that, Roundabout looked generally weaker, being built like a little girl, while his Killer Queen was built like a MMA fighter. The serial killer realized that he still had a chance to defeat her. After all, he murdered for more than thirty years without being caught and had to survive in a town full of stand users looking for him, while the ex-magical girl standing before him had never encountered a stand user until today. Kira smiled.

"Well well well well well well well...you have a「stand」now," Kira said. "Congratulations. And yes, this is indeed my「Killer Queen」."

Killer Queen cracked its knuckles.

"But...if you think you can beat me just because you got a cute new stand…" Kira said. "Then TRY IT! YOU'RE STILL DECADES TOO EARLY TO FIGHT ME BRAT!

Kira stood up on his tiny hind legs and crossed his ears into a pose. Killer Queen resumed its trademark pose as well, preparing itself to confront Homura's stand head on.

But Homura didn't attack. Instead she collapsed to the floor. She was now kneeling on one knee and breathing heavily. Her Roundabout disappeared.

Kira blinked his eyes. The sudden collapse of his enemy took him by surprise. He soon thought of the reason: the attack earlier had left Homura completely devoid of energy. She was too exhausted to summon and maintain her stand. Kira felt reassured and breathed a sigh of relief.

"*phew*...I was actually worried for a second there." Kira said, casually strolling up to beside Homura. "But it seems you're too tired to call out your...「Roundabout」was it?"

Kira pulled out a watch from his tiny business suit. He put on the watch and studied the time. That was when he heard Homura utter something.

"That...watch...is pretty nice," Homura said. "Too bad you won't be able to tell time after I break it...your face that is."

Kira felt a sense of deja vu. He heard that line from somewhere before but could not remember where. He pushed the thought into the back of his head.

"Oh please...what can you do?" Kira said, turning his attention to the still kneeling Homura. "You can't possibly beat me while you are in that condition. Killing you now, would be as easy as killing...A NEWBORN BABY!"

As Kira yelled those last three words, Killer Queen sent a fist flying towards Homura.

_Yes! I've won! _Kira thought, feeling confident that victory was within reach. All of a sudden, he felt something grab his throat. He could barely choke out a word when he looked over to Killer Queen and saw that a grey arm was strangling it. Roundabout had reappeared, called out when it sensed the danger to its master. Kira was wrong to think the stand was weak; its grip was powerful, like a boa constrictor's on steroids. Even Killer Queen was struggling to break free. Homura stood up.

Kira realized the mistake of underestimating his opponent, his renewed life and newfound body had made him more cocky than usual. He wanted to rectify his mistake; he made Killer Queen reach forward to touch Roundabout's arm, to turn it into a bomb. But Homura's stand didn't give it a chance. It delivered a hard punch to the right side of Killer Queen's face.

"Aaghhhhhh!" Kira screamed, the side of his face having turned lopsided from the strength of the blow. Killer Queen's face began to show signs of cracking.

"It seems I still have some「strength」left." Homura said. Roundabout quickly threw Killer Queen into the air and began pummeling it with a barrage of fists. Kira had no time to react before his body was torn apart by the blows.

"_**HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU~!" **_

The stand yelled with every strike. The blows caused Killer Queen to be littered with indentations, bruises, and cracks. The damage transferred to its user, and Kira found his new body being pulverised. He couldn't even scream; the endless succession of punches prevented him from doing so. He was carried by Homura's blows like a rock being turned over by the current of a powerful river.

"_**HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU!~HOMU!"**_

The last punch delivered by Roundabout caused Kira to be launched several meters away. He crashed into the fountain on the pier with intense force, destroying the structure completely.

Homura saw what remained of the fountain; a pile of debris and broken lights. She knew the incubator's corpse had to be buried underneath. She started to walk away, confident in her victory, when she heard a crumbling sound emanating from the ruins.

Homura turned around. Kira was still alive, although barely; his possessed body resembled a worn out doll with huge gashes everywhere. He had lost one of his eyes, and his well-kempt hair was a mess. The serial killer dug himself out of the rubble and sat down. He was no longer as menacing as before. He was almost pitiful in his appearance.

"I told you I'd break your face didn't I?" Homura said. The spirit of the killer seems to have made the incubator's body more durable than normal.

"Yes...yes you did…" Kira said. His fury was gone and replaced with a look of serenity. Homura was slightly unnerved.

"You..your stand was really strong. I think it might even be from the same family as「Star Platinum」." Kira said. He threw away his ruined watch into the river. "Looks like Yoshikage Kira sure found himself in a predicament. And it's all because of that f***ing「bug stand」."

"「Bug stand」?" Homura said. "What「bug stand」?"

"Oh right...you were still unconscious. Well if you must know, your stand didn't just appear on its own. You had「help」. It was created...by a bug-like stand earlier."

Homura fell silent.

"That stand...had a「arrow」 inside it. To think the「arrow」exists in「this」 town.

"Arrow?" Homura was puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

Kira gave out a laugh. "Ha! Of course, I forgot you're new to this stand thing. If you must know...there exists a special「arrow」that gives people stands by piercing them. Only the worthy ones of course, the unworthy just die."

Kira paused to cough out the bits of debris he swallowed. "Anyways...as I was saying. The bug stand had this 「arrow」inside it and pierced you with it. To think this town already had a stand user population before I arrived...unbelievable."

_There's more stand users in this town? _Homura thought. She had only heard of stand users only recently. It seemed impossible for Mitakihara to be hiding an entire population of them since Homura would have heard of them by now. This was truly the most bizarre timeline she has ever been in.

"If you don't believe me," Kira said. "Just be patient, and you'll see the bug stand again.「Stand users attract other stand users」."

Kira stood up and shook off the dirt on his body. He adjusted and cleaned his tie with his ears and brushed off his suit.

"Well...I think I'll be going now." Kira said. He was strangely calm, and Homura didn't like it.

"Hold on...you think I'd just let you walk off like that?" Homura said, her Roundabout assuming a fighting stance. "After what you did to Madoka...after what you did to me?"

"Yes...of course," Kira said. "Because I just「won」."

"Won? What do you mean...won?" Homura said. She began to feel uneasy.

"Let me ask you this...did Reimi tell you about「all」of my powers?"

"Yes...she said you can turn people into bombs."

"Correct...but did she tell you anything else?"

"...No…"

"I see. I guess Josuke and his friends never told her about...my「other bombs」. Must've slipped their minds." Kira said, his mouth forming a ominous grin.

"「Other bombs」?" Homura said. Suddenly she heard something moving from far away. It was a faint rustling noise coming from some bushes. Bushes that were near the bench where Madoka was.

"What...what did you do!?" Homura angrily asked.

Kira summoned Killer Queen. Its visage was marked with cuts and cracks all over its body. It looked like a mannequin that was just put through a shredder. The feline stand raised its left arm to show Homura that the skull emblem that was once there had disappeared, leaving behind an empty circular space.

"You see that empty space?" Kira said. "That was where my「other bomb」used to be. I called it out when I was under the fountain's rubble. It's making its way to Madoka Kaname as we speak."

Homura tensed up. "What...what did you just say?"

"OVER HERE!" a third voice shouted. It came from near Madoka's direction.

Homura glanced back to where Madoka was. Her eyes widened in fear as she saw a bizarre object come out of the bush. It had a dome-shaped body and treads like a tank. It had a face in front of it that resembled a skull with ears. It was crawling its way to the bench to where the fainted Madoka lay and was only a few feet away from her. It was closing in on its target fast.

"That...that thing is yours!?" Homura yelled. "Call it off...NOW!"

Kira smiled. "Make me."

Homura, in a fit of rage, sent her Roundabout forward with its fists poised and ready to tear Kira into pieces. The stand stopped the moment it was ten meters away from its user. Homura couldn't make it go any further.

"W-What the?" Homura said.

"Hehehehe," Kira laughed. "I knew it. A stand that can pack punches that powerful can only be「short ranged」. The moment you sent me flying into the fountain, I was thrown out of your「range」. Your stand can't go further than two meters! This means you only have enough time to choose one of the following: either「attack me」or「save your friend」."

Homura's mind raced. She began to sweat at the situation she found herself in. It was true, her stand seemed to only have a small range. She can either run forward and pummel Kira or run back to Madoka and protect her from the the 「other bomb」that is going to destroy her. She couldn't do both, and she lost her time manipulation abilities with her shield.

Homura's panic was clearly visible to Kira, and the serial killer felt comforted by it.

"You better make your decision quick...my「Sheer Heart Attack」has no weaknesses." Kira said, confident that he was safe from Homura's wrath.

And he was right. He knew how much Homura cared for her friend, according to Kyubey's memories.

"DAMN IT!" Homura yelled, as she frantically bolted towards Madoka. Sheer Heart Attack was now only a few inches away from its target.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **So in this chapter, we learn that Kira is a cheating bastard.

I also tried to copy and paste the rumbling sound effect from Jojo into this chapter, but it doesn't look quite right. I guess I'll just leave it in for novelty.

And many of you have probably guessed by now that the bug like stand belongs to Oriko. I was originally going to make it look like one of her spheres, but the bucket imagery amused me more.

Thanks for tuning in!


	13. A Truly Roundabout Path Part 3

**Chapter 13 - A Truly Roundabout Path Part 3**

* * *

Homura ran as fast as her legs could take her. Sheer Heart Attack was only inches away from Madoka. Without warning, the bomber stand lept into the air and was about to dive right into its victim, giving off a sinister laughter as it did so. But it did not get a chance to attack its hapless target; it was met with Roundabout's fist instead.

"_**HOMU!"**_

The punch knocked away the tank-like stand, causing it to crash into the floor, indenting the pavement as it did so. Homura had made it in time. She felt relief that she was able to protect her friend from being blown into pieces. Her victory was short-lived however, as Sheer Heart Attack rolled on its side and got back up.

"OVER HERE!" Sheer Heart Attack bellowed, continuing its advancement towards the two girls.

_Damn, its tougher than it looks! _Homura thought. The tank stand, although indented on one side from Roundabout's blow, was still attacking as if nothing happened. Undeterred, Homura sent out her stand again.

"_**HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU~!"**_

Roundabout's fists began to sandwich Sheer Heart Attack. The fury of the blows caused the tank stand to lose its treads and be crushed on all sides. Pieces of it began to fall off from its body and cracks began to appear on its skull-like face. But despite all the damage being done to it, the stand kept advancing, ignoring the blows.

Homura was stupefied. Sheer Heart Attack was no bigger than a small dog, and yet it seemed to be as durable as Walpurgis Night itself. Since pummeling didn't work, Homura tried another method.

Roundabout grabbed Sheer Heart Attack, lifting it off the ground. Its fingers reached into the tank stand's face and began stretching it from both sides. If Homura couldn't beat it to submission, then maybe she can tear it apart instead. However, the effort proved to be futile. No matter how strong her stand was, Sheer Heart Attack wouldn't budge. It adamantly stayed in one piece.

"OW! OW! OW!" Sheer Heart Attack uttered. Roundabout quickly threw the tank stand away. It was a useless gesture, since it immediately came back, attracted to the body heat of the two girls.

_N-Nothing works! This tank thing is too strong! _Homura thought. She ran to where Madoka was and threw herself onto her friend's unconscious body, hoping to protect her from the ensuing blast. Roundabout put its arms up into a defensive stance, preparing to receive Sheer Heart Attack's assault. The tank stand jumped up and headed straight into Roundabout.

"OVER HERE!" it yelled, before heat and light burst forth from its body.

* * *

"Damn damn damn damn damn damn!" Sayaka Miki said to herself, as she rode her bike frantically across Mitakihara.

The reason for her panic was the fact that she recently learned her friend Madoka Kaname went missing. Her parents were worried sick and immediately called the police, but even the authorities couldn't find anything. Sayaka couldn't just sit around and do nothing. If her friend was in danger, she had to do everything in her power to save her. Especially when she just received a new power not too long ago; a stand named Blue Oyster Cult.

Feeling her biking was too slow, Sayaka called out her stand which proceeded to punch the floor as they went. The stand's punches caused the distance between her and her destination to shorten with every blow to the pavement. This ability proved useful when she was combing the entire town, although Madoka Kaname was still nowhere to be found.

Too distracted with saving her friend, Sayaka almost ran into a tall man with a white coat and a strange cap. Sayaka stopped the brakes on her bike the moment she saw Jotaro Kujo come into view. Her tires screeched as she landed right before Jotaro.

"Mr. Kujo?" Sayaka said.

The marine biologist turned around. "Oh its you. What are you doing out this late?"

Sayaka was relieved. She knew Jotaro was a fellow stand user, and he can help her find Madoka.

"My friend...Madoka Kaname...she's missing!" Sayaka said.

"Missing? How long has she been missing?"

"A...quite a couple of hours ago! The cops couldn't find anything. I...I'm worried about her…"

"Yare yare, let's not waste any more time then," Jotaro said, walking along with Sayaka.

"Say...Mr. Kujo…" Sayaka said.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing out here?"

Jotaro could have told her the truth; that he came back from investigating the boat where those two men have gone missing. But the poor girl was already dealing with the disappearance of her friend. He didn't want to panic her any further.

"Dolphins." Jotaro lied. "I was studying dolphins."

"Dolphins...in Mitakihara?" Sayaka said.

Before she could question Jotaro any further, both of them heard a large explosion nearby. The source of the noise came from the other side of the artificial river, right near the pier. Sayaka jumped off her bike.

"W-What the heck!? Was that an explosion?" Sayaka said.

"Yare yare daze…" Jotaro said, pulling on his cap. The two hastened their pace.

* * *

Kira made his escape the moment he heard the explosion. His borrowed body was worn down, but he still had more than enough strength left to run away. He darted through the trees and made his way out of the pier, confident that Homura and Madoka were now nothing more than dust in the wind.

_Whatever Sheer Heart Attack targets, it kills. _Kira thought to himself. He was confident in Sheer Heart Attack's abilities; it nearly killed Jotaro Kujo after all. The serial killer soon saw the light coming from an opening up ahead. Using all the power left in his body, Kira ran to it, hoping to escape the pier before anyone else arrives. But as he ran into the opening, he suddenly found himself back at the destroyed fountain and the bench where Madoka was.

"Wh-What the..." Kira said. He must have gone back in a circle by accident, despite the fact he clearly was heading in the opposite direction from the river. Not wasting another second, he jumped back into the group of trees and tried to escape a second time. Just when he was confident he found the correct path, he found himself at the same fountain and bench again.

"Huh!? This...this can't be! I'm going in circles!" Kira yelled. The confidence he had earlier was soon lost. He glanced over to where he sent Sheer Heart Attack. The bench was empty. Thinking the girls were dead, Kira felt slightly relieved, until he saw a second Sheer Heart Attack fall into the pavement.

_What the Hell? _Kira thought. Sheer Heart Attack should have gone back to Killer Queen when it finished its objective. Kira pulled out his stand and saw the empty circular space was still there on its hand. Which meant the Sheer Heart Attack he saw was not a double, but his own.

Sheer Heart Attack jumped into the empty bench and detonated itself. The bench was reduced to splinters and the tank stand suddenly disappeared, only for another Sheer Heart Attack to appear out of the bush and do the same thing as its colleague. And once it detonated itself in the empty air where the bench once stood, a third Sheer Heart Attack came from the bush and repeated the same action.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊! What the Hell is this?" Kira said, not taking his eyes off the procession of Sheer Heart Attacks. But just as the tenth Sheer Heart Attack came out of the bush, Kira was whisked away. The killer looked down and saw that his tiny limbs were moving on their own. He ran into the forest again, this time against his own will.

_What's happening!? Is Kyubey resuming control? No...this is something else! _Kira's body began to retrace the steps it took earlier. Soon, he saw the same light, and went through the same opening, to find that he was in the same place as before. The Sheer Heart Attacks kept coming out of the bush and continued to detonate in the empty air.

Kira had a revelation as to what was happening. "Oh God...I'm stuck in a「loop」of「time」!"

"So you finally figured it out…"

Before Kira could find the source of the voice, a foot clamped down hard on his ear.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊!" Kira yelled, as he winced at the pain. He opened his eyes and saw Homura Akemi, standing up and holding Madoka Kaname in her arms. Madoka didn't have a scratch on her and Homura seemed to have not received any new injuries. They seemed to have escaped from harm, and Kira was agog.

"W-WHAT? YOU TWO SHOULD BE DEAD!" Kira roared, as Homura's foot pressed down harder, causing the serial killer to shut himself up.

"I finally figured out what my「Roundabout」can do, Kira…" Homura said, her eyes giving a chilling stare.

Kira's body stopped moving on its own. Homura must have cancelled her stand's ability on him. She wanted him to feel the beating she was about to give.

"Y-You...you can「trap」things into「time loops」?" Kira said nervously.

"Yes...and I trapped you the moment my stand punched you. It took me a while to「activate」 this ability since I just recently got it. But once I did, I was able to escape your little「Sheer Heart Attack」pretty easily."

Kira was at a loss for words, and looked visibly frightened. Homura took enjoyment out of that.

"I...see…" Kira said. "Then...I must use my「third bomb」."

Homura stared at him.

"Third bomb? How many bombs do you need? Are you really that insecure?" Homura said with a ridiculing tone. She was not afraid of Kira's bombs any longer.

That was when Kira began to laugh. He had lost his fear, and now looked more desperate than anything.

"Hahahahaha! This「bomb」 is「different」from my other ones, I assure you." Kira said. He pointed to Madoka. "Because its already「targeting」your friend over there."

Homura's expression didn't change.

"When Kyubey opened his big fat mouth and told your friend that there's a「killer」 inside him...he made Madoka an「eligible candidate」for my…「Bites the Dust」. " Kira said. He began to study Homura for signs of fear but she didn't show any.

"My「Bites the Dust」you see...it can be attached to non-stand users who knows my identity. Thanks to Kyubey divulging all that info about me, Madoka now has become the primary target for my third bomb!" Kira said, raising Killer Queen's hand. Its thumb was sticking up, as if it was about to press an invisible button.

"The moment I press my thumb…" Kira said. "The bomb will attach itself to your friend and detonate. She'll be blown to pieces and I will escape." He began to grin like a maniac, confident that he has gotten out of the situation. The moment he triggers Bite the Dust into Madoka Kaname, he will travel back in time and escape from the dire predicament he found himself in. He was completely sure he had Homura cornered.

"You want to detonate Madoka?" Homura said. "Go ahead…"

Kira was stupefied. He did not expect Homura to say that.

"I...I really mean it!" Kira, his voice slightly faltering.

"I know...go ahead." Homura said. Her expression remained stoic.

"W-What!? Don't you care about your friend?" Kira said. Panic began to overwhelm him.

"What's the matter…" Homura said. "Are you too much of a coward to go through with it?"

Kira snapped.

"FINE YOU LITTLE BITCH, YOU TWO CAN GO TO HELL TOGETHER!" Kira yelled. His Killer Queen pressed down hard with its thumb. Kira beamed, thinking he has achieved victory.

Nothing happened.

"...Huh!?" Kira exclaimed. "Why...why didn't it work? WHY DIDN'T BITES THE DUST ACTIVATE?"

"Look down at your stand's hand." Homura said calmly.

Kira did as he was told, and saw that Killer Queen's thumb did not press all the way. Instead, its thumb was going back and forth repeatedly, unable to be pressed down.

"The moment I stepped on your ear...I had Roundabout place your 「trigger finger」into a time loop. You will never be able to detonate another bomb ever again." Homura said.

Kira felt defeated. His body began to shake from fright. He can't use his bombs anymore, and his desperation increased tenfold. He fell silent.

"So...you ready for your beating now?" Homura said, her Roundabout cracking its grey knuckles.

Kira slowly looked up. He regained some of his composure and grinned. "Not...quite,"

All of a sudden, a light grey mist began to pour out of the wounds on Kira's borrowed body. The mist began to coagulate into a form in the air. Kyubey's body turned back to normal, the blonde hair and the business suit merging together with the mist. The incubator's body fell to the ground as the spirit inside him vacated.

Homura stared at the mass forming before her. The mist transformed itself into a man in his thirties. He was wearing a bowler hat with skulls on it and a dark suit. The man's lower body did not form completely, and remained as mist pouring out of Kyubey's body. It didn't take long for Homura to figure out who the figure before her was.

"Yoshikage Kira...so this is your true form," Homura said.

The ghost smiled at Homura.

"Hehehe...you only put the body I was borrowing into a「time loop」...but as I ghost I'm free from your trap!" Kira said.

"Oh...that's okay. I was waiting for you to come out anyway." Homura said, putting Madoka gently down on the floor.

"...Come again?"

"I needed you to become a「ghost」...so that「they」 can take you away…"

"「They」?" Kira said with a befuddled look. "Who the f*** are「they」?"

Kira felt something tugging on his arm. He looked down and his face twisted into an expression of pure horror. A disembodied hand was grasping him, and wouldn't let go. Before Kira could even scream, he was surrounded by more hands. They grabbed Kira all at once.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊!" Kira wailed. "T-THEY SHOULDN'T BE HERE! THEY SHOULD ONLY BE IN THE ALLEYWAY!"

"_I brought them here," _

Kira turned to see that another girl had appeared beside Homura. This girl had short brown hair and a light pink dress. She had a wounded dog with her. Kira immediately recognized the girl as Reimi Sugimoto, one of his first victims. She was holding up a piece of rock.

"This「rock」...is a rock I took from the alleyway. I used it to signal the rest of your「victims」 to this place…" Reimi said.

"Y-You!" Kira said, continuing his futile struggle against his disembodied captors.

"So long Kira, it's been nice knowing you," Homura said, nodding to the serial killer.

Kira called out his stand. "KILLER QUEEN! BLOW THESE HANDS UP!"

But it was too little, too late; Kira's spirit was torn to pieces by the swarm of hands. His stand was promptly destroyed in the same manner. All he could do was look at Reimi in fear with his decapitated head.

"I let the「nun」talk me into releasing you into her custody, thinking she can change you. I was wrong. No more leniency, you are going straight to「Hell」 and staying there for good." Reimi said. She gestured for the hand army to take their prey away. Kira screamed as he was dragged into the abyss. The screaming became more and more faint until both Kira and the horde of hands disappeared.

"What took you...so long?" Homura said. She began to pant, finally beginning to feel the severity of the wounds on her body.

Reimi looked at the heavily injured ex-magical girl. She began to feel guilty that she couldn't make it in time to help her during the confrontation with Kira.

"I'm...I'm sorry...if I only had shown up earlier…" Reimi said. Her expression became gravely serious. "The truth was Homura...Arnold and I were delayed because we were「attacked」."

Homura looked at the ghost in surprise. "Attacked? Attacked...by what?"

Reimi started to tremble slightly.

"We were attacked...by a「horned woman」."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**ROUNDABOUT**

**(user: Homura Akemi)**

**Stats**

_Destructive Power: _A

_Speed: _A

_Range: _E

_Durability: _B

_Precision: _B

_Development Potential: _A

**Abilities**

**Law of Cycles: **Roundabout can cause living things and objects to be trapped in localized time loops, causing them to repeat their actions from the past five seconds endlessly. This is different from Ringo Roadagain's Mandom or Bites the Dust, since only specific objects are stuck in loops, while time flows normally for everything else.

**Super Strength: **Roundabout has incredible strength that almost puts it on the same level as Star Platinum-type stands. It is also fast as well.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Hopefully, the whole "rock from the alleyway" is still within the realm of believably, and not too big of an asspull.

I changed some parts of previous chapters to make this chapter make more sense. I changed it so that Kyubey actually mentioned Kira's name to Madoka in chapter 11, so Bites the Dust can work.

And we finally get to hear about the horned woman more this chapter.

As always, thanks for reading!


	14. The Horned Woman

**Chapter 14 - The Horned Woman/Loose Ends**

* * *

MITAKIHARA - UNKNOWN LOCATION - MOMENTS BEFORE HOMURA'S FIGHT WITH KIRA

"Come on Arnold! Homura needs us!" Reimi said. Her dog Arnold was agitated by something and refused to budge. It began to bark at a bench nearby.

"Arnold! What's gotten into you?" The ghost girl said. She looked to the bench where Arnold was barking at, and her eyes fell on a dark shape sitting in the corner.

It was a woman, in her early twenties, wrapped around in a dark frilled cloak and sitting on the bench in a meditative posture. There were no streetlights around and Reimi had trouble distinguishing her features. The mysterious woman turned to face Reimi and her dog, and that was when Reimi's eyes widened; the woman had two large horns jutting out of the openings on the hood of her cloak.

"Hey...you there," the woman spoke. Her voice was both alluring and ominous. "Would you mind shutting up your dog? I'm trying to「rest」here."

Reimi gulped. If the woman can see her and Arnold, that means she was no ordinary human, or possibly not human at all. The woman had a vivid and fleshy quality about her that made Reimi realize she was certainly not a ghost, and that made her even more wary.

But before Reimi can ask the enigmatic figure who she was, Arnold charged at the woman on the bench.

"ARNOLD!" Reimi screamed.

Suddenly, a blinding light bathed the entire area, catching Reimi by surprise. The light disappeared in a flash, and the ghost girl opened her eyes. When she came to, Reimi realized something was off; she felt a heart beating in her chest. Soon, she felt a warmness spread over her body, and she began to feel sensations she haven't felt for a long time. She opened her mouth and found herself inhaling and exhaling the cold night air. Reimi was shocked; she was alive again. She felt older too, her body no longer that of a sixteen year old but that of a woman in her late thirties.

Before she could react to her newly revived body, Reimi felt a hand grab her throat. She looked up and found that it was the horned woman, her fingers digging into the newly formed flesh of the former ghost.

"I can「eat」you in this「state」...right now if I wanted too…" the woman said. Reimi struggled and looked down to see Arnold on the floor. She was horrified as she saw Arnold's visage was rotting, with worms and maggots covering his fur.

"But...you mentioned a「Homura」'...by any chance, are you talking about Homura Akemi?" the horned woman said.

Reimi nodded weakly, struggling to breath as the woman's fingers dug deeper into her neck

"Well then...I guess I'll let you live." The woman said, releasing her grip from Reimi and causing her to drop to the floor, gasping for air. The woman's lips curved into a smile, the rest of her face covered by the hood of her cloak. She gave Reimi one last message.

"Say hello to Akemi-san for me." The horned woman said, as she flew into the air and disappeared into the night.

Reimi stood dumbfounded. Suddenly thinking about Arnold, she turned around to see that her beloved dog was no longer rotting; he had turned back into a ghost and was wagging his tail. Reimi looked down at her hands and saw that it was not as vivid as a second ago. She too has reverted back into a ghost.

"...What...what just happened," Reimi said, still visibly shaken up by her ordeal. She and Arnold quickly ran off in search of Homura.

* * *

PRESENT TIME

"And that's about it," Reimi said, as she finished recapping her story to Homura.

"This...horned woman...who...what was she?" Homura asked.

"Even I don't know...but she knows who you are Homura,"

"I...I don't know anyone with that description…" Homura said, when Reimi and Arnold began to float into the air, surrounded by clouds.

"Homura...it seems its our time to go," Reimi said, embracing Arnold. "Our fate is connected with Kira. We no longer have any ties with the living world…"

Homura looked up at the ghost girl and her dog. "Thanks Reimi...for looking out after Madoka."

Reimi smiled. "Don't thank us...we should be thanking you. Your newfound power is what stopped Kira for good...use it to protect this town,"

Reimi and Arnold continued their advance into the skies. A faint light began shining on them through the darkness. It was a glimpse into Heaven, Homura thought.

"Oh and one more thing…" Reimi said, turning back to Homura. "Josuke is a really nice guy. I'm sure you two can be friends if you tried…"

With that the girl and the dog disappeared into the column of light. The clouds closed together again and the darkness of the night fell over the pier once more.

"...I'll try Reimi.." Homura said. Exhausted and aching everywhere, Homura went over to Madoka and lifted her up. She was going to take her home, when she heard Kyubey's voice.

"Boy...that was close..." The incubator said. He was back to his old self, content with the fact the ghost invading his body was gone. Homura gently placed Madoka on a bench nearby and turned to face the thing she hated most in the world.

"Hey...was this your doing Homura Akemi?" Kyubey said. "I don't know how you did it, but I must thank you. I don't detect any signs of Kira anywhere."

Homura simply looked at Kyubey. Her fists clenched.

"You...「you」were the one that made Madoka「cry」…not Kira,"

"Come again?"

"Madoka...she told me...before all this happened...that you said some things to force her into contract. You frightened her into crying didn't you?"

"Well…" Kyubey said, scratching behind his ear. "I guess it was me. It was her fault really. If she only did as she was told, Kira would have been wished away, and you wouldn't be as hurt as you are…"

Kyubey studied Homura. "Say...how come I can't detect magic from you anymore? And where's your soul gem?"

"Oh...my soul gem「changed」" Homura replied.

"...「Changed」? Changed into what?"

"Do you really want to find out?"

"Yes, you have peaked my curiosity Homura Akemi."

"Okay...stay right there."

"Right...here?"

"A little bit to the left."

"Here?"

"A bit more..."

"...Here?"

"Yes...there. Perfect," Homura said, calling forth her Roundabout.

**"HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU****HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU****HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU****HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU****HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU****HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU****HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU~!"**  


**"WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY~!"**

**"HOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMUHOMU~HOMU~!"**

If this was a manga, then Homura's furious blows would have filled no less than eight pages. She let out all of her anger in her stand's attacks, beating the hapless incubator with blows powered by the rage she has built up across different timelines. Kyubey was being turned into mush by Roundabout's fists. His sinews ripped and gooey black blood flew everywhere. But Homura wasn't done yet. She continued beating the incubator until its ears were torn off along with the upper part of its head. Kyubey's body broke under the blows, having been torn to pieces and discarded like trash to the floor. Homura felt satisfaction for the first time in ages. The attack on the incubator felt like anger therapy to her; a therapy that worked.

"Hey! What was that?" Kyubey said, in a new body he teleported from nearby. "That certainly wasn't magic you were using…"

Homura looked slightly disappointed. "No...it was a「stand」."

"A「stand」!?" Kyubey said. It was the first time Homura ever heard Kyubey being completely surprised. "When did you get a stand?"

"I don't know the details myself…" Homura said. "But I'm out of your「system」. I'm not a magical girl anymore. And there's more「stand users」 in Mitakihara than you realize."

"Impossible...I would have detected them by now!"

Homura turned and walked away.

"Hey...where are you going?" Kyubey said, tilting his head.

"I'm leaving...killing you would be useless. Useless useless useless" Homura said.

"Ah I see...you finally figured out you can't kill me," Kyubey said. Suddenly he tilted his head again. He began to repeat his words.

"Ah I see...you finally figured out you can't kill me. Ah I see...you finally figured out you can't kill me. Ah I see...you finally figured out you can't kill me…" Kyubey repeated the phrase over and over, continually tilting and re-tilting his head as he did so. He was stuck in a time loop.

"Incubator...you probably can't hear me..." Homura said, tilting her head back to see her handiwork. "That earlier attack was just for me to let off some steam. When you returned in a new body, I used Roundabout to lightly touch you and trap you in a time loop. Enjoy experiencing the same five seconds forever."

Homura retreated coolly. Kyubey would never be able to contract another magical girl ever again, all thanks to her new power; a power that came from out of the magical girl system. It was a victory that made Homura happy for the first time in what felt like centuries. As she walked down the pier, she heard a voice calling her name.

"H-Homura-chan?"

Homura turned around to see Madoka has awoken from her slumber. The pink haired girl was rubbing her eyes and was in a slight daze. She looked up at Homura.

"H-Homura...what happened?" Madoka said. She gaped at the wounds on Homura's body. "Y-You're badly hurt!"

Homura smiled. Tears formed in her eyes as happiness and relief overwhelmed her. Madoka was safe, and that was all that mattered.

"Don't worry about me...as long as you're safe." Homura said.

"You...protected me." Madoka said. Tears began to form in her eyes as well. "You got hurt...because of me…"

"No...don't think of it like that," Homura said. "We're friends...I'd do anything for you. Because you...you did everything for me..."

Madoka ran over and gave Homura hug. Homura slightly winced due to the pain from her injuries.

"I'm...I'm forever grateful…"Madoka said. "I'm sorry...that I doubted you before."

"I'm glad...to hear that…" Homura said. Her voice got weaker.

"Madoka...now that you're safe…I think I'll take a nap," Homura said, going limp in Madoka's arms.

"Homura…?" Madoka said. Unable to support Homura's body, Madoka let her savior gently plop to the floor. "HOMURA!?"

She tried to get Homura awake but she was knocked out cold. Madoka began to panic. She needed to get help for her friend fast, but she didn't have her phone with her and there was no one else around. Madoka began to feel desperation. But just when things looked dire, a voice rang out from behind her.

"Madoka!"

Madoka turned around to see Sayaka Miki running up towards her, followed by a tall man wearing a white outfit. She recognized the tall man as the marine biologist who lectured in class earlier; Jotaro Kujo.

"S-Sayaka? Mr. Kujo?" Madoka said.

"Madoka, are you alright? We were worried sick about you!" Sayaka said, grabbing Madoka by the shoulders. The blue haired middle school student turned to see Homura, and was disturbed by what she saw.

"Is...is that the transfer student? What happened to her?" Sayaka said. Jotaro wasted no time; he quickly knelt beside the injured Homura and checked her pulse.

"Yare yare...she'll live...but with her injuries we're going to need help right away…" Jotaro turned to Madoka. "Hey, what exactly happened here? How did she get like this?"

"I...I don't know." Madoka said. "It...it must have been Kyubey…"

"Kyubey!?" Sayaka exclaimed. "He did this?"

Jotaro calmly pulled out a cigarette. "Who the heck is Kyubey?"

Sayaka and Madoka turned to Jotaro with an awkward expression.

"Um...I don't how to tell you this," Sayaka said. "But Kyubey...Kyubey is a magical girl mascot. And I was a former magical girl…"

To Sayaka's surprise, Jotaro's expression didn't change. He remained as calm and stoic as ever, and took a puff from his cigarette.

"I see...so you were really a magical girl?" Jotaro said.

"Yes...I know...its hard to believe." Sayaka said.

"Nah...I believe you. I've heard of stranger things. I mean, my granddad fought vampires with a cyborg Nazi."

"Huh?" Sayaka and Madoka exclaimed in unison.

"Yare yare, that means Josuke was right all along. He's not going to let me hear the end of it," Jotaro said, as he cradled Homura's body into his arms and stood up.

"Are...are you going to help her Mr. Kujo?" Madoka said.

"Yup,"

"The hospital shouldn't be too far from here. You can take my bike." Sayaka said.

"Nah...I won't be going to the hospital."

"What!?" Sayaka said.

"I know someone who can「fix」 her up right away. Better than any doctor." Jotaro said.

"W-Who is this person?" Madoka said.

Jotaro disposed of his cigarette into an ashtray on a nearby trash can.

"He's...my uncle." Jotaro said. He took out his phone and dialed for a Speedwagon Foundation car to come pick him and the injured Homura up. He offered a ride to Madoka and Sayaka and the two girls promptly followed him.

* * *

MITAKIHARA OBSERVATION TOWER - 10:00 PM

The horned woman sat on the roof of the observation tower overlooking all of Mitakihara town, her cloak blowing in the night wind and her visage hidden by the darkness.

"Amazing," the woman said, surveying the magnificence of the city lights and listening to the sound of civilization underneath.

"For the centuries that I have「revolved」around this world...I would have never expected human civilization to have changed this much."

The horned woman pulled out a small object from her cloak. It was a photograph of a young Japanese girl with long silver hair. The woman studied the photo closely.

"Oriko Mikuni...I「tracked」you down to this town. You can't hide from me forever.…"

A bird flew by the observation tower. Without looking up from the photo, a third arm appeared out of the horned woman's back and yanked the bird out of the sky. The arm was covered in a purple sleeve with white frills at the end and a gemstone on the back of its cuff. The arm began to crush the bird with a brutal mechanical efficiency, causing the animal's brains and organs to squish out of its body.

"...And once I find you, I'll「squeeze」the「life」out of you like this bird…and I'll get my「arrow」back."

The third arm released the bird's remains and disappeared. A clump of feathers and gore plummeted to the ground below. The horned woman got up and, with superhuman strength, jumped from the tower for parts unknown.

As the horned woman departed, a light engulfed the skies. The bird was no longer dead; it was alive again and flew away.

* * *

THE NEXT DAY - 10:13 AM

A girl sat in one of Mitakihara's many tailor shops, waiting patiently for her order to be finished. The girl had long green hair that was less curly and lighter in color than Hitomi's and she wore a flamboyant floral pattern dress decorated with roses . The girl was studying the the flower at the front desk when the store owner came out carrying a Mitakihara middle school uniform.

"Here's your order Miss...a Mitakihara middle school uniform complete and ready to go…"

The girl kept her attention on the flower.

"Say...this is a「rosa rubiginosa」sweet briar rose isn't it?" The girl said, turning to the store owner.

"Why...yes it is! You sure do know your flowers, Ms…?"

"Kimura...Hanako Kimura…" The girl answered. She went up to the desk and picked up her uniform, giving the store owner the money she owed for his services.

"That rose...you should「water」it a bit more...its beginning to show slight signs of「wilting」." Hanako said, as she exited the store with her uniform in hand.

It was a sunny afternoon and the streets were busy with playing children and laughing couples. Hanako walked down the street when she received a call. She pulled out her smartphone, which was in a case decorated with a flower motif.

"Moshi moshi, Hanako desu~"

_"Hello_「_Gertrud_」_ "_

"Oh...Kirik- , I mean「Margot」. Forgive me, I didn't expect your call. What do you need?"

_"Just checking up. You got the uniform right?"_

"Aye aye ma'am. Got it right here with me."

_"Good...then you know what to do right?"_

"Yes yes yes, Kirika...I mean「Margot」. You told me countless times already. I infiltrate the school disguised as a transfer student...and then kidnap Madoka Kaname and bring her to Oriko-sama."

_"...Good good. Are you sure you're up to it? You might meet some..._「_resistance_」_"_

"Please...I doubt they will see my 「Iron Butterfly」coming."

_"Alright then...ciao."_

As Kirika said goodbye, Hanako shut off her phone and put it back in the pocket of her dress.

"Heh...what a beautiful Mitakihara," Hanako said. A green, gurgling humanoid followed right behind her.

**TO BE CONTINUED **

* * *

**Yoshikage Kira: Status - Dragged to Hell/Retired**

**Kyubey: Status - Stuck in a time loop forever. Eventually he stopped thinking.**

* * *

**Author's notes: **

The horned woman finally gets some dialogue. And no, her stand's power is not bringing things back to life. It's...much more bizarre than that.

And we also see a new character, Hanako Kimura, and she's up to no good. Can't wait to show you the fight with her.

I went on a uploading binge this weekend because my school work is still manageable at the moment. But in a few weeks there will be a major recruiting event on campus, and I won't be able to update as much since I have to prepare for it. Thanks for your patience.


	15. Gertrud's Iron Butterfly Part 1

**Chapter 15 - Gertrud's Iron Butterfly Part 1**

* * *

_The rose garden witch with a distrustful nature_

_She holds_「_roses_」_dearer than anything else_

_She expends all of her power for the sake of beautiful roses_

_Despite_「_stealing the life-force_」_of humans who wander into her barrier to give her roses_

_She loathes the thought of them trampling the inside of her barrier_

* * *

MOMOE RESIDENCE

Nagisa Momoe woke up with a throbbing headache. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in a unfamiliar bedroom. The wallpaper was in a intricate floral design with shelves full of books and fancy art pictures. If it was Nagisa's room, the walls would have been yellow and decorated with pictures of cheese.

The little girl sat up and rubbed her forehead, to find that she there was a bandage wrapped around her scalp. Her thoughts were unclouded and she felt she had been relieved of a great burden.

"Oh, looks like you are awake…"

Nagisa turned around to see a girl enter the room. The girl was a couple of years older, as evidenced by the size of her bust, and had blonde hair with drill-shaped curls. She was carrying a tray with tea and desserts and gave Nagisa a warm smile.

"I thought you might be hungry, so I brought some food. You must be exhausted after your ordeal."

Nagisa's stomach rumbled. She could not remember the last time she ate.

"W-Where am I? What happened?" Nagisa said. Her memories of the past few nights have been completely blanked out.

"You are in my apartment. My name is Mami Tomoe. We rescued you from the hospital." The girl said.

"You rescued me?"

"Yup…you had a nasty thing attached to you, but luckily Josuke got rid of it."

At the sound of Josuke's name, Nagisa's memories came flooding back. She remembered she was ordered to kill a man named Josuke Higashikata, and she recalled the ensuing fight that occurred in Mitakihara General Hospital that leveled an entire side of the massive building complex.

"I...did I hurt Josuke? Did I hurt anyone else?" Nagisa said. She felt guilty.

"No worries," Mami said. "I healed him with healing magic. And he healed everyone else."

"Where...where is he now?"

"He's attending some important business...with something called the「SPW」." Mami said, as she laid down the tray on a table beside Nagisa.

"_Hey! Careful Mami! Don't get too close to her! She could still be dangerous!" _A third voice shouted out. It came from around the corner.

"Oh Kyoko stop it. She's fine now."

"That's what you think!" A red haired girl said, as she peeked into the room. Nagisa looked at the girl, who was in full magical girl gear and brandishing a spear towards her.

"Kyoko...please. Put that spear away. You're scaring our guest." Mami said. The red haired girl didn't oblige.

"Are you kidding me!? Did you forget she nearly tried to decapitate you!?"

Nagisa's eyes widened. She turned to Mami "D-Did I really?"

"Well...you were not yourself at the time." Mami said. "It's all just「troubled water under the bridge」."

"I-I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Nagisa said. She sat up on the bed and began to bow fervently. "Is there anyway I can atone for all the trouble I caused?"

"Now that you mention it...we were hoping to get some information." Mami said.

"Information?"

"Yes...about a certain「Oriko-sama」. And the「Witch Tarot」. I don't know if you can remember, but you mentioned them at the hospital." Mami said. Nagisa fell silent. The little girl stared at her sheets, clearly disturbed by something. Finally, she spoke up.

"Yes...I remember. And I'll tell you everything I know about them." Nagisa said. She gulped. "The truth is...the Witch Tarot are all「stand users」."

"Stand users? In Mitakihara? " Kyoko said. She disengaged her spear. "I thought you and Josuke were the only ones."

"That's not even the bizarre part." Nagisa said. She took a deep breath before continuing. "The bizarre part is…they were all「formerly」「witches」. And I was one of them."

Mami and Kyoko both gasped.

"Are...are you serious kid?" Kyoko said.

"Yes...I'm serious. I know it sounds hard to believe, but I used to be a「witch」 called 「Charlotte, the Desert Witch」. Then I...「turned」." Nagisa said. Mami and Kyoko were in clear shock; the bizarre story unfolding in the town just got even more bizarre.

"Wait...did you say「The Desert Witch」?" Mami asked. She remembered the witch that nearly ended her life and its desert themed barrier, but that witch can't possibly be Nagisa; it was destroyed by Sayaka Miki.

"I...I don't know if you remember this, but...the Desert Witch was destroyed in battle. There's no way it can be you." Mami said.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out myself," Nagisa said. "But...I think it has something to do with「Oriko」."

"Oriko? The same Oriko-sama you were talking about?" Kyoko said.

"Yes…" Nagisa replied.

"Who is she exactly?" Mami asked.

"She...she was the one who「transformed」us from「witches」to stand users. I don't know how. All I remember was…"

Mami and Kyoko were fully enthralled into Nagisa's words.

"...all I remember was...being in a「glass tank」...filled with a「strange liquid」...and looking out." Nagisa continued.

"What did you see?" Mami asked.

"It was dark, there were machines everywere. I was in a factory of some sort. I looked beside me and there were several other tanks beside mine. I couldn't make out in detail what was in them, but they were big, ugly, and definitely weren't human." Nagisa said. She paused for breath before continuing her story "The tanks...they were labeled with a strange writing...like the kind you'd see in a witch's barrier."

"Then...they must have been…" Mami said.

"Yes...they were witches." Nagisa said. "Although I'm sure they are human now...or mostly anyway…as the other members of the「Witch Tarot」.

Nagisa took the cake off of the tray and scarfed it down. Her face lit up. "Wow...this is really good!"

"Oh thank you…" Mami said, beaming at the compliment. "If you like it I can make some more."

"You made this? Sugoi!" Nagisa said, grinning as she wiped away the bread crumbs on her cheeks with a napkin on the tray. "You're a really good cook!"

"*Ahem*...can we get back to the story?" Kyoko said.

"Oh...right...where was I?" Nagisa said. The deliciousness of the cake broke her concentration.

"The part about the tanks filled with witches…" Kyoko reminded.

"Oh yes...I was in the tank, when a girl with short black hair showed up." Nagisa said.

"A girl...with short black hair?" Mami said.

"Yes...she pointed at me and said...'This one is ready Oriko'. The next thing I knew, a silver haired girl appeared next to her. She must have been Oriko."

"Then...then what happened?" Mami said. Both she and Kyoko were on the edge of their seats.

"Oriko...opened a hatch on the top of the tank, and「shot」 me with a odd looking「arrow」…"

"An...arrow?" Mami said. "Was she a magical girl?"

Nagisa turned pale. "I thought so too at first...until I met her in person after."

"What...what do you mean by that?" Kyoko said.

"After I was「shot」, I blacked out...and I found myself in my old room at the hospital." Nagisa began to shiver. "The silver haired girl...Oriko...she was right next to me. Her face was hidden in the shadows."

A shiver went down Nagisa's spine as she recalled what happened next.

"The girl looked at me and said...'Congratulations, you got your「old life」back. But your stand, which I shall now call「Ballroom Blitz」was uncontrollable. It nearly bit off my friend's head. I'm going to need to make you「behave」.' Her voice...it was strangely soothing yet scary at the same time."

"Then what happened?" Mami asked excitedly.

"Then...then her hair turned into a swarm of tentacles…" Nagisa answered.

"Huh!?" Mami and Kyoko exclaimed in unison.

"She...she planted something...like a parasite...in my head...before I could react. And that's all I remember…" Nagisa said. She slumped back on the bed, having told her tale.

"Mami, can I have a word with you?" Kyoko said, beckoning Mami to a corner of the room.

"I don't know of any magical girls with tentacles for hair that can inject parasites into people," Kyoko whispered into Mami's ear. "This Oriko chick might really might be a vampire! Josuke could be right, there's a frickin vampire in Mitakihara! "

"That's not all…" Mami added. "Witches can turn into stand users! I never thought something like that is even possible!"

The two girls turned back to Nagisa.

"Nagisa...those witches in the other tanks...they are now stand users like you?" Mami asked.

"Yes…" Nagisa answered. "I'm sure of it. They were in line to be shot with the「arrow」, to be「turned」like me."

"Do you know anything else about the others?" Mami inquired.

"I...I don't know much about the others. I don't even know their real names. All I know are their code names…"

"Code names?" Kyoko said. "What is this, some sort of secret club?"

Nagisa began to rub her forehead again. "The parasite...when it was attached...it subconsciously told me the code names of the other「Witch Tarot」, as a warning to not get in their way. There's 「Gertrud」,「Gisela」,「Patricia」,「Roberta」,「Albertine」,「Elsa Maria」,「Suleika」,「Elly」,「Uhrmann」,「Izabel」, and「Margot」. As for why we keep our identities in secret, I don't know the reason exactly myself... "

Mami and Kyoko felt uneasy as they took in Nagisa's words. The two were used to fighting only witches, which for the most part were unthinking beasts that simply lashed out at everything before them. However, resurrected witches that have become stand users are another problem entirely; stand users can think, plan, and strategize. Furthermore, they can attack without soul gems revealing their presence, and their stands would be undetectable to any non-stand user. For the first time in their lives, the two veteran magical girls felt out of their league.

_If only...if only we had more stand users on our side..._Mami thought to herself.

* * *

PATH TO MITAKIHARA MIDDLE SCHOOL

Sayaka walked to school, unable to take her mind off the events from a few nights ago. Her best friend Madoka was in danger and she wasn't there for her. For a girl who wanted to be the hero, she was failing at being one.

"Damn it, I should've been there," Sayaka kept muttering to herself. As she made her way through the park, she heard someone call out her name.

"Hey...Sayaka!"

Sayaka turned around to see Nakazawa, a boy in her class, run up to her with a group of his friends.

"Is...is it true?" Nakazawa asked.

"...Is it true...what?" Sayaka asked, perplexed as to why Nakazawa has suddenly taken an interest to her.

"Is it true...that you were abducted by aliens and placed in that hotel room?".

Sayaka was soon reminded of her ordeal in the hotel room days before and the swarm of reporters and inquisitive minds that dogged her as a result. It seems the popularity of her story has yet to die out. She studied Nakazawa and his friends. They all had expressions of curiosity and excitement; her story had earned her a group of admirers.

"Come on Nakazawa don't be ridiculous...she was obviously under a mind control experiment by the government…" One of Nakazawa's friends said.

"Mind control? That's retarded." Another of Nakazawa's friends chimed in.

"Shut up, you're retarded."

The two boys began to argue.

"Retard!"

"Moron!"

"Retard!"

"Moron!"

The incessant squabble between Nakazawa's friends began to irritate Sayaka.

"BOTH OF YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP!" Sayaka yelled.

"Yaaah she talked to me!" One of the boys said.

"No...she was talking to me!" The other replied.

But just as Nakazawa's friends began to argue again, Sayaka lost her balance.

_What? _Sayaka thought, unable to react to whatever tripped her. She began to fall down the long flight of stairs that led to Mitakihara Middle School.

"AHHH! SAYAKA!" Nakazawa and his friends yelled.

Fortunately, although its user was unable to react fast enough, Blue Oyster Cult could. Sayaka's stand swiftly reached out and grabbed a nearby branch, stopping her from making a one way trip into the pavement below. Once Sayaka was safe, Blue Oyster Cult released its grip and she landed lightly on her feet. As her leg touched the ground, the blue haired middle school student felt a sharp pain pass through her calf. She looked down and saw a bloody scratch staining her stocking.

_What the Hell, when did I get hurt? _Sayaka thought, as Nakazawa and his friends came running to her.

"H-Hey you alright? A few more centimeters you would have「bit the dust」." Nakazawa said.

"Yeah...I'm fine," Sayaka said. She was relieved that Jotaro told her that normal people can't see stands, otherwise the group of boys would have been freaked out at the third arm that just saved her life.

"That cut looks pretty nasty...you better go see the nurse!" Nakazawa's friend said.

A voice came from behind Sayaka. "_Here...use this."_

Sayaka turned around to see a girl in a Mitakihara Middle School uniform. She was a girl that Sayaka has never seen before. The girl's hair was yellow green and straight with round layers, decorated with various roses. She was Mami's age and had an air of sophistication about her. The rose-haired girl pulled out a handkerchief from her Gucci brand bag and offered it to Sayaka.

"The cut doesn't look too deep. Use this handkerchief to wrap it up." The girl said with a solemn, almost stoic expression. "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah…I'll live..." Sayaka answered.

"...「Good」..." The rose haired girl said, as she turned around and walked towards Mitakihara Middle School.

"Hey wait!" Sayaka said. The girl turned around.

"Thanks for the handkerchief...but...I've never seen you before. Are you really from my school?"

"I recently transferred in. My name is Hanako Kimura. Pleasure to meet you." The girl said as she gave a bow. Before Sayaka could give her own name, the girl disappeared among the mass of students that gathered in the entrance to the school.

"Hey...that new girl...she's pretty cute…"One of Nakazawa's friends remarked.

"Yeah...but I still like Ms. Saotome better," Nakazawa said. An awkward expression appeared on everyone else's faces.

"...What?" Nakazawa said sheepishly. The school bell rang and the group hastily made their way to class.

* * *

"Oh goodness!" Miss Saotome said, as she saw the bloody handkerchief tied around Sayaka's leg. "You better go see the nurse immediately! Madoka, can you please take your friend here to see the nurse?"

"Okay, no problem!" Madoka said, as she departed with her friend into the hallway.

"Sayaka...what happened!? How did you get that wound?" Madoka asked.

"I don't know...must've gotten it when I tripped…" Sayaka said, limping along.

"Well you should be more careful from now on, you aren't a magical girl anymore. You don't have powers!"

_Well...that's not entirely true_, Sayaka thought. She wanted to tell Madoka about her stand but realized how crazy it would sound. Besides, Jotaro specifically forbid her from telling others about her stand until he figures out what is going on in town, lest she involves her friends in dangerous situations.

"Here we are…" Madoka said, opening the door to the nurses' office for her friend. The two girls stepped in and saw it was empty. There were no patients and no nurse in sight.

"Huh...that's odd. Maybe they're on a break. I'll wait with you Sayaka," Madoka said.

"Thanks," Sayaka replied, as she roamed around the room. It was eerily quiet and although she couldn't explain it, Sayaka began to feel on edge. She glanced over at the hospital beds and the cubicles, which were devoid of life, when something caught her attention. It was a coffee cup that laid beside a half eaten sandwich on one of the nurse's desks.

_That's weird...if the nurse is on break, you'd think she take her meal with her. _Sayaka went over to the unfinished meal when she she noticed that the coffee cup's contents weren't dark brown but silver and shiny. Curiosity taking hold, Sayaka reached out and grabbed the cup, to find that it was really cold, much too cold for a cup of coffee. She held the cup closer and under further scrutiny found something truly strange; there was a single dandelion seed sticking out of the silvery surface inside the cup.

"What...in...the…" Sayaka said, when she heard Madoka scream. She nearly dropped the cup to the floor.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Madoka what is- 「OH! MY! GOD!」" Sayaka said, this time dropping the cup for real and causing it to shatter on the floor. She quickly saw the reason for her Madoka's scream. The nurse never left the room; she was sprawled on the floor, hidden behind the desk. Her body was frozen stiff and her face was stuck in a expression of terror. The freakiest thing about the nurse was that her skin, her hair, and even the clothing she wore, were silver and shiny like the contents of the coffee cup. Dandelion seeds were growing out of the nurse's gaping mouth, ears, nostrils and the folds of her clothing.

"Is...is this a witch attack?" Sayaka said.

Sayaka looked over to Madoka. Her friend was still in shock and was backing away to the window on the other side of the room.

"W-What...h-happened...to...her?" Madoka said trembling.

"I don't know...but we have to get out of here!" Sayaka said. As she looked past Madoka to the window, she saw something that made her heart jump.

Right on the window behind Madoka, coming from the top direction, was a hand firmly pressed against the glass.

"Watch out! Its a familiar!" Sayaka yelled, pointing to the window.

"A familiar!?" Madoka said. She turned around and stared directly at the hand. "But I don't see anything here…"

_She can't see it? But its right there...unless..._Sayaka thought. It was at this moment that Sayaka remembered Jotaro's words.

"_Stand users...attract other stand users…"_

"MADOKA! GET AWAY FROM THERE! ITS A STA-" Before Sayaka could finish her sentence, a large dandelion-covered arm punched through the window, sending shards everywhere, and grabbed Madoka by the collar of her school uniform. All Madoka could do was scream as she was yanked out of the office.

"MADOKA!" Sayaka bellowed. She bolted to the window, fully determined to chase down her friend's kidnapper. Going no further than a step, she suddenly tripped and fell to the floor. As she sat up, she found that her leg, the one that was wounded, now feels much heavier. She looked down and saw a dandelion seed sprout out from the handkerchief. The seed was phasing through the handkerchief's material and had a translucent quality. Sayaka pulled off the handkerchief and her stocking; she saw that her leg was turning silver like the nurse.

"What the hell!?" Sayaka said. She touched the now silver part of her leg, and it felt just as cold as the coffee cup. Furthermore, it had the texture of mineral, not flesh. That was when Sayaka had a terrifying revelation.

"「OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!」..my leg is turning into「metal」!" Sayaka exclaimed. The dots connected in her mind; the dandelions turn whatever they are attached to into metal. The coffee cup and the nurse were already victims of this「ability」, and Sayaka was next.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **Never trust green haired girls. Especially ones with stands.


	16. Gertrud's Iron Butterfly Part 2

**Chapter 16 - Gertrud's Iron Butterfly part 2**

* * *

Sayaka stared at the seed growing out of her leg. The metal infection began to spread from her calf to her shin.

_But how...how did the stand get me...unless..._Sayaka immediately thought back to the mysterious rose haired girl that gave her the handkerchief.

"Goddamn it! That rose haired girl was the stand user! How could I have been so dense! Why do green haired girls always make my life miserable in the end!?" Sayaka said. She checked up on her leg and found that the infection already reached past her shin and was gradually making it to her thigh. If she didn't do something soon, she would end up as a metal statue like the nurse.

"BLUE OYSTER CULT!" Sayaka called out. An armored visage appeared before her.

"Get rid of that「seed」'!" Sayaka commanded, jabbing a finger at the sprout on her leg. Her stand reached over her leg and grasped the seed by the white fluffy tip, which felt oddly warm for something growing out of metal. As it did so, Sayaka suddenly felt her hand get heavier like her leg.

"W-What!? My hand!" Sayaka said. She saw her hand was beginning to turn into metal as well. She looked up to Blue Oyster Cult and saw a dozen small fluffy seeds on her stand's hand. The seeds were digging through Blue Oyster Cult's armor and was turning it into metal along with its user. Sayaka glanced down at the seed that was on her leg and discovered that the white fluffy tip of the seed was sprouting miniature dandelions. Sayaka's heart sank.

_If...if I try to remove the_「_seed_」. _I'll only end up being infected by more_「_seeds_」_! This stand...its so strong! Stronger than any witch I've faced so far! I need...I need to get out of here!_

Panicked, Sayaka struggled to drag herself and her metalized limbs to the entrance of the room. It felt like she there were two anvils tied to her, but she finally made it to the door. Not wasting a moment, the blue haired stand user reached up to grab the doorknob with her still fleshy hand. The lock jammed.

_W-What!? Why won't the door open? _Sayaka thought, as her eyes fell on the sides of the door. Lining the door's open gaps were more dandelion seeds, spreading their metal infection and causing the door to be stuck in place. Sayaka's heart sank even deeper.

_I'm...I'm finished! _Sayaka thought, as she laid down on the nurse's office in defeat. As she did so, she saw the fragments of the coffee cup that laid on the floor. With the cup shattered, she could see clearly now that the coffee itself was the victim, having gone from liquid to solid as a result of the seed inside it. Sayaka was puzzled.

_Why the heck did it attack the coffee? _Sayaka thought. She glanced away from the coffee cup and found a hot glue gun on a table next to the door. Sayaka could clearly hear the sound of the glue still dripping from the gun, meaning it was only recently used. She looked again at the door, and it was at that moment a light bulb clicked on in Sayaka's brain.

* * *

"Pitiful...just pitiful…" Hanako said as she overlooked the grassy fields of Mitakihara Middle School. She was on the roof with her captive, Madoka Kaname, who was tied up with rope and gagged with a rolled up napkin.

"Doesn't your school know what fertilizer to use? Seriously...it makes me sick." Hanako walked over to Madoka and put a hand on the gag.

"Now...I'm going to remove this gag for a while," Hanako said, her drilling stare making the scared Madoka even more frightened. "Not because I'm nice, but because your mouth exhales precious carbon dioxide that plants need to survive…"

Hanako's eyes bore into her captive. "If I even think you're about to scream, I'll use my「Iron Butterfly」to send some「seeds」down your throat and turn your vocal cords into iron...got it?"

Madoka nodded, shaking with fear as she did so. She had no idea what was going on nor what the rose haired girl is talking about. She didn't even know if her captor is a magical girl or something else entirely. All she knew was that something yanked her out of the nurse's office with violent force and brought her to the roof of the school, and that something was under the girl's command.

As Hanako yanked the gag away from Madoka's mouth, Madoka gasped for air.

"*gasp*...huff...huff...W-who are you? What do you...what do you want with me?" Madoka asked.

"I was told to capture you and deliver you to a special「someone」..." Hanako answered. She fondled with one of the roses on her hair. "...and now I'm waiting for the「pick up」."

Hanako lifted Madoka's chin up so they were eye to eye.

"Tell me...about your friend's stand." Hanako asked.

"Huh?" Madoka said, clearly clueless.

"That blue haired girl...「Sayaka Miki」...I saw her 「stand」 earlier when it grabbed onto that 「branch」...what are its「powers」?"

"I...I don't know what you're talking about."

Hanako slapped Madoka across the face.

"I won't ask again...what does your friend's stand do?"

"I...I...I...really dont know!" Madoka cried. Small tears formed on the corner of her eyes.

"I see…" Hanako said. She raised her hand to give another slap, causing Madoka to face away. But she stopped her hand.

"Wait...I don't detect a single「heat signature」coming from the nurse's office." Hanako said. She began to give a ominous smirk. "Looks like I don't need to know what your friend's stand does anymore."

"Eh?" Madoka said.

"Your friend...has already expired." Hanako said. "She's not giving off any 「body heat」 which my own stand, 「Iron Butterfly」can detect. Probably ended up like the nurse."

"N-No! SAYAKA!" Madoka screamed. Devastated by the news that her friend might be dead, the pink haired middle school student began to cry. Hanako promptly put the gag back into her mouth.

"Mmmmphhhh!" Madoka said, struggling against the gag.

"You behave now...I'm going to check up to make sure your friend really is dead…" Hanako said. She called out her「Iron Butterfly」.

It was a strange looking beast that was part man, part plant. Its body was feminine and well-built, and was colorized like a Picasso painting, with blotches of red mixed with green. Its two legs were black with red horizontal stripes. On its back was a pair of vestigial butterfly wings and its head was green and resembled a gooey mound of moss covered with multiple rose-like structures. Half of its face was jutting out from underneath the mass of moss, revealing a metallic mouth and chin. Large dandelions covered the length of its arms and the stand wore what looked like a belt with a cotton-like mustached face in the middle.

"「Iron Butterfly」...go down there and see if Sayaka Miki really is dead." Hanako said. Iron Butterfly obeyed its master and began to scale the walls like Spiderman. It crawled several stories below until it reached the shattered window to the nurse's office.

* * *

Iron Butterfly climbed into the room, its roses pulsating to detect heat signatures nearby. It surveyed the surroundings, or to put it more accurately, its user searched the room through its eyes. The nurse still lay frozen on the floor and there was a smashed coffee cup on the other side of the room. But Sayaka Miki was nowhere to be found.

"That's odd…" Hanako spoke, through her stand.

The moss-headed stand crawled on all fours and prowled the room like a panther searching for its kill. It searched the desks, flipped the furniture, and made its way across every inch of the nurse's office; Sayaka Miki was still nowhere in sight.

_Where is she? There's no way she could have escaped the room. I bolted it with at least a thousand seeds. And there's no way she could have gone out the window, not with the_「_seed_」 _I planted on her leg._

Iron Butterfly continued its search to find its elusive target, when it noticed an object jutting out from beneath one of the desks; it was the hose of a fire extinguisher.

The moss-headed stand yanked the fire extinguisher out from under the desk and noticed that there were bits of foam left in the hose. The stand rattled the extinguisher and found it to be completely used up and empty.

Before the stand could finish studying the object, something small suddenly plopped to the floor in front of Iron Butterfly. It was a drop of what looked like snow.

_!? _

Iron Butterfly quickly turned its head upward, and Hanako, seeing what her stand saw, finally found Sayaka Miki.

_Impossible! She was hiding in the ceiling all along! _

The blue haired middle school student was alive and covered head to toe in the fire extinguisher's contents, the foam dripping to the floor in droplets. The ceiling of the room was extended several feet higher than its regular length, thanks to Blue Oyster Cult's spatial distortion abilities. Sayaka clung onto the walls of the newly formed space with the limbs of her stand.

"HA! GOTCHA!" Sayaka yelled, as she released her stand's hold on the wall and dropped down. Her Blue Oyster Cult grabbed Iron Butterfly by its mossy head and with its other arm delivered a rapid succession of fists to the stand's body.

"_**VADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADA~! VADA VIA!"**_

Iron Butterfly put up its arms as Blue Oyster Cult attacked. The effort allowed the green moss-headed stand to withstand the worse of the blue armored stand's barrage, but it was still thrown across the room by the force of the blows.

* * *

"S***" Hanako swore.

Madoka stared at her kidnapper in befuddlement; one moment ago the green haired girl was standing, and now she was on her knees, sweating and clutching the fence of the rooftop for support.

_Damn...it _Hanako thought. _That ceiling...wasn't normal! This must be the power of her stand! To spatially distort things by increasing their length and width! By extending the ceiling, she has created a_「_new space_」_in which she used to hide in and ambush me! _

Hanako stood back up. Her grip on the fence was tightening from the anger she felt.

_Sayaka Miki...you turned out to be a dangerous opponent after all…_

* * *

Iron Butterfly laid on its back, with Blue Oyster Cult bearing down on it.

Sayaka, who was still covered in the fire extinguisher's contents, walked calmly to where the green stand was.

"How...how did you know?" Iron Butterfly said. Sayaka Miki can hear it was the green haired girl's voice, albeit more metallic. "How did you know to use the extinguisher on yourself to hide from my heat detection?"

"It's simple…" Sayaka said. "I saw that you「infected」the「coffee cup」with one of your seeds, and I realized there must have been a「reason」why. Then when I saw the「hot glue gun」 you used on the door I fully understood; your seeds are「attracted」to「heat」! With you gone from the room, the only way for you to「pick out」your targets is to send your seeds to「sources of heat」, like the coffee cup, the hot glue on the door, and the nurse's warm body temperature."

Sayaka was slightly impressed with herself. As a magical girl she was never capable of analyzing the situation so quickly before and to come up with unorthodox plans on the spot. Either her stand was making her smarter or the nature of the opponent she was fighting forced her to grow stronger mentally.

"...And another thing...once I applied the extinguisher onto myself, my arm and leg felt much lighter," Sayaka continued. "I figured that your「seeds」 need 「heat」to「grow」, like any other plant. What really clinched it was when I grabbed the seed you planted on me. It was completely warm unlike the coffee cup. The 「seeds」must feed on body heat and steal it for themselves! "

Sayaka flexed her infected arm and leg. The seeds were shrinking from lack of body heat to absorb, and the metal infection began to recede.

"As long as my body temperature is cooled by the extinguisher, your seeds can't grow on me!" Sayaka said confidently, smiling smugly and wagging her finger in the air as she did so.

"...Well...done…" Hanako said via Iron Butterfly. The moss-headed stand got up on its feet. The damage done to it was minimal; Blue Oyster Cult only managed to bruise its arms.

"So...you ready for more beatings?" Sayaka said. Her stand cracked its armored knuckles.

Iron Butterfly charged at Blue Oyster Cult without warning, its arms poised to attack. The moss-headed stand delivered a swift series of uppercuts, hooks, and jabs. Iron Butterfly was fast, but Blue Oyster Cult was faster, allowing its user to dodge every attack. Blue Oyster Cult then delivered a punch of its own, a single straight jab to the side of Iron Butterfly's mossy head. There was no bruising or visible sign of damage, but the force of the blow knocked Iron Butterfly down.

"Hey...come on, was that it?" Sayaka said with a mocking tone. "You're so slow. Even my magical girl self could have taken you on easily with that kind of speed!"

"Oh is that so?" Iron Butterfly said, again with its user's voice. "But my attack has already「landed」!"

"...Come again?" Sayaka said, baffled since she clearly dodged all of the stand's attacks.

"I wasn't 「aiming」 for you!" Iron Butterfly said, as it got back up.

"Huh?" Sayaka exclaimed. "What kind of attack doesn't aim for the opponent? Are you an idiot?"

"No…" Iron Butterfly replied. "Take a look at your uniform…"

Sayaka looked down and saw that the blanket of foam that once shielded her body from the seeds was gone. The sudden realization that she was now open to metal-fication again made Sayaka's eyes widen in horror.

"That's right...I was aiming for the「foam」on your body!" Iron Butterfly said, its user's voice rising in confidence. "My stand isn't exactly the fastest around...and there was a good chance your stand is faster than mine...so a「regular attack」would be「futile」. Instead I used my attacks to make you「dodge」! And your「dodging motions」, combined with the「currents of air」created by my punches, shook off your foam!"

"Crap!" Sayaka muttered. With her blanket of foam gone, her body temperature began to rise. Her arm and leg began to feel heavier again. But that was not the end of the bad news.

"Which...means…" Iron Butterfly said with a sinister tone. The dandelions on its arms began to move and vibrate. Sayaka could see bits of seeds floating from the dandelions and heading into the surrounding air.

"...which means...you aren't safe from my「heatseeking」seeds anymore!" Iron Butterfly yelled. The seeds began to drift in groups towards Sayaka's direction, honing in on the heat being given off by her body.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!" Sayaka yelled. She ran to the other side of the room, away from Iron Butterfly and the swarm of seeds. Her leg, which became just as heavy as earlier, caused her to trip and fall face down. Sayaka turned around, and saw that the cloud of seeds were already on top of her. Running out of options fast, Sayaka used her stand to grab a desk nearby to block the seeds. Blue Oyster Cult swiped the desk in an effort to knock the seeds away. It was a futile effort, as the seeds began to phase through the desk.

"Have you forgotten? Those are「stand」 seeds," Iron Butterfly said. It sat on an adjacent desk, enjoying the moment as it surveyed Sayaka's useless struggling. "A normal desk like that won't even touch them. The seeds will touch non-stand objects with「heat」and only those with「heat」. It will pass through everything else, save for other stands off course."

The seeds continued to bore through the desk, and were inches away from Sayaka's face. But Sayaka, strangely, was not scared. She would have been scared, if it weren't for Iron Butterfly/Hanako Kimura's big mouth.

"...Only things with heat?" Sayaka said. She began to smile. "Thanks for the hint idiot!"

"_**VADA!" **_

Blue Oyster Cult tore off one of the desk's wooden legs and proceeded to rub them with amazing speed on the floor. Soon a spark came from the leg, followed by a small flame. Blue Oyster Cult was now holding the door leg like a torch, and smacked the seeds away with the fire. The seeds flew away from Sayaka and towards the flame, bent on attaching themselves to it, only to be annihilated by the powerful blows of Sayaka's stand.

"The seeds can only be touched by「heated objects」right?" Sayaka said. "Then good thing I have this「torch」with me!"

Her Blue Oyster Cult handled the torch like a cutlass, cutting large portions of the cloud of seeds out of the air.

The seed cloud was promptly destroyed; though they absorbed heat, the fire was too much. The seeds were reduced to small cinders and drifted to the floor. Iron Butterfly looked on in terror.

"...Oh god f***ing damnit," Iron Butterfly swore. It leaped off the desk it was perched on and lunged at Sayaka and her blue armored companion. Even if Sayaka's Blue Oyster Cult was the faster stand, a full frontal assault was the only option left to Iron Butterfly. The moss-headed stand concentrated all its power into a left hook, hoping to catch Sayaka by surprise and take her head off.

Sayaka didn't budge, even with Iron Butterfly's fist closing in on her face.

_Yes! This is the finishing blow! _Iron Butterfly/Hanako thought, but its fist suddenly missed.

"W-WHAT!?" Iron Butterfly shouted. Its arm, without warning, was stretched fifty times its regular length. With its upper arm stretched, the left hook was actually pushed several feet away from its intended target and punched a part of the adjacent wall instead. Caught off guard by the sudden growth spurt of its limbs, Iron Butterfly was met with Blue Oyster Cult's own left hook.

"_**VADA~!"**_

* * *

Hanako's body flew against the fence. She landed on all fours and was bleeding profusely, swearing as the pain from Iron Butterfly was transferred to her. The once beautiful ex-magical girl and ex-witch lost some of her beauty as she began to spit out a bloody tooth. The blood trickled down to her chin.

"What...the...hell!" Hanako screamed. Just as Blue Oyster Cult's punch landed, she quickly disengaged her Iron Butterfly before Sayaka could land another blow, or two, or a hundred.

Hanako got up, ignoring the pain to the best of her ability. She looked back towards Madoka Kaname and saw that her hostage was no longer crying. In fact, the pink haired middle school student was staring at Hanako wide-eyed and clearly disturbed by something.

"Hey...what's wrong with you?" Hanako said. There could have been many reasons for Madoka's fear; the danger her friend is in, the hostage situation she herself was in, or seeing Hanako suddenly get injured with no visible cause. But as the ex-witch followed Madoka's gaze, she saw that her own arm was the source of her hostage's attention.

Hanako's arms were elongated like Iron Butterfly's. They drooped to the floor like snakes wrapped around her ankles and the ex-witch found herself struggling to lift them up.

"W-What the hell is this!?" Hanako said. Try as she might, her arms were simply too long and too heavy to be moved.

"_I increased the length of your arms…" _

Hanako turned around, to see Sayaka standing resolute straight in front of her. The blue haired middle school student's arm and leg were still silvery and metal, but she did not seem to mind the pain. The entrance to the rooftop was open, and Sayaka must have used her Blue Oyster Cult to increase the distance between the entrance and herself to teleport a few meters in front of Hanako.

"I just got one of these「stand」things not too long ago," Sayaka said. Her face was filled with determination and ire. "I'm still 「experimenting」 with Blue Oyster Cult's powers. They're definately different from my old magical girl powers. But it seems it can increase the surface area of「living things」as well, though the effect takes longer."

"W-What!?" Hanako exclaimed.

"Your Iron Butterfly used its「arms」to block my stand's punches, causing them to be under the effect of my「lengthening」ability. You just couldn't notice because you relied on attacking with your「seeds」instead of your own stand's「body」."

Hanako cursed under her breath.

"But before I beat the living crap out of you...I want to know...who are you exactly...Hanako Kimura? And how did you get a stand like me?"

Hanako, arms still wrapped around her ankles, composed herself. All traces of panic were gone from her face, and her expression became that of reserved hatred.

"Sayaka Miki…" Hanako said.

_She knows my name? _Sayaka thought.

"The truth is Miss Miki, you and I are both of the same「species」. Like two peas in a pod."

"Please...I'm nothing like you! And how do you know my name!?"

"It's because...we're both formerly witches!" Hanako said.

"...What?" Sayaka said, the shock of the words taking a moment to comprehend. Hanako's arms returned to their normal lengths.

"My...my...it seems your Blue Oyster Cult can only lengthen objects for a certain period of time before returning to normal." Hanako said, wiping off the blood from her mouth.

"Yes Sayaka Miki...or should I say Oktavia...you were formerly a witch...just like I was…"

Hanako called out her Iron Butterfly, and began to contort her body into a fabulous pose.

"My stand「Iron Butterfly」represents the 「Rose Garden Witch」,「Gertrud」...and I'll be the one to end your life!" Hanako shouted.

Sayaka got over her shock; she was here to do one thing and one thing alone, and that is to rescue her friend Madoka Kaname. She already failed once to be there for her, but never again. She can investigate Hanako's claim later, but she needed to defeat the stand user that's keeping her friend hostage first and foremost.

Sayaka started posing fabulously as well.

"I don't give a damn who you are!" Sayaka said. "I'll defeat you nonetheless!" Blue Oyster Cult materialized behind her.

Just then, Sayaka caught a motion out of the corner of her eye; something was moving among the clouds in the sky. It took her a moment, but Sayaka soon realized it was the clouds themselves that were moving.

"Oh...defeat me?" Hanako said. Her grin got wider. "But you already stepped into my「trap」you fool."

"...Trap?" Sayaka said.

"What...you actually think those things above us are clouds?" Hanako remarked, as dandelion seeds started to rain down upon the rooftop.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**IRON BUTTERFLY**

**(user: Hanako Kimura aka Gertrud)**

**Stats**

_Destructive power: _B

_Speed: _B

_Range: _B

_Durability: _C

_Precision: _D

_Development Potential: _D

**Abilities**

**Sowing the seeds of love: **Iron Butterfly can produce parasitic dandelion-like seeds from its arms that can cause any organism or substance they are attached to to slowly become metal. By trapping their victim in metal, the seeds can then suck out its body heat.

**Heatseeker: **The roses on Iron Butterfly's head act as organs that can detect heat signatures, so that the user can target someone from far away even when she or her stand are not there. The seeds produced by Iron Butterfly can also detect heat and will automatically flock to any heat source within a radius of 20 feet.


	17. Gertrud's Iron Butterfly Part 3

**Chapter 17 - Gertrud's Iron Butterfly Part 3**

* * *

"Oh my「God」..." Sayaka muttered. The cloud of speeds began to disperse and descend at a brisk pace. Both her and her friend Madoka was going to be turned into metal statues, and Hanako Kimura laughed at the prospect.

"Mmmphhh?" Madoka uttered with the gag still in her mouth. She saw the expression of terror and distress on Sayaka's face, but was confused as to the cause of her friend's fear since she couldn't see the instrument of their impending petrification as a non-stand user. Nor could she see the large armored blue humanoid coming out of Sayaka's body and running towards her.

"BLUE OYSTER CULT!" Sayaka yelled. Madoka suddenly felt something lift her up, and without warning she was suddenly beside Sayaka.

"Using your distance altering abilities to save your friend?" Hanako said. "It's pointless, the seeds are going to hit every inch of this roof! And frankly, I'm okay with turning my hostage into a metal statue as well. Easier to deliver."

Sayaka smiled. "Too bad you won't get the chance to…"

"Huh?" Hanako said. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean...your seeds won't even touch us! Because I have THIS!" Sayaka yelled triumphantly, as she pulled out a lighter.

"Where...where did you get that?" Hanako said.

"I always see the nurse taking a smoking break after lunch! I found this right in the desk where her food was! " Sayaka said triumphantly. She clicked on the lighter and threw it into the air, the heat of the flame attracting Hanako's seeds.

"I'm going to burn your seeds like the ones downstairs!" Sayaka said.

Hanako didn't say anything. Sayaka took this as a sign of victory.

"Heh, what's the matter?" Sayaka said, with a mocking tone. "Cat got your tongue?"

"...You were planning on seeing my seeds burst into flame I presume?…" Hanako said.

"Uh...duh of course!"

"Then why haven't any of my seeds burned yet?"

"...Eh?" Sayaka muttered. She looked up and saw that the large mass of seeds have congregated to a single cloud, near where she threw the lighter. None of the seeds were burning. The lighter plopped out of the seed cloud and dropped to the floor; its flame was extinguished.

"W-What!? It didn't work!?" Sayaka said. "But it worked downstairs!"

"You idiot," Hanako said. "Don't you know what「convection」is?"

"...Say what?" Sayaka said, confused.

"The reason why you were able to burn my seeds downstairs with a simple flame was because the heat of your torch was too much to absorb for a「smaller group」of seeds. But the seeds here number in the「thousands」. The heat of your lighter's flame will be「divided」 amongst all of them equally, allowing them to easily「absorb」the flicker of your puny lighter." Hanako said.

"...Eh...uh…" Sayaka said. Madoka looked at her friend. Although she couldn't comprehend what was going on, she could see the look of pride on Sayaka's face be replaced with a look of awkwardness and panic.

"Well...cat got「your」tongue now?…" Hanako said. The seeds dispersed from the cloud and began to float towards Sayaka and Madoka.

"...CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP!" Sayaka yelled. She grabbed her friend and used her Blue Oyster Cult to strike the floor, decreasing the distance to the rooftop exit.

"Ha! You think running towards the exit will work?" Hanako yelled.

Sayaka suddenly felt both her legs get heavier. She looked down and saw seeds coming through the floor, phasing through the cement. Some of them have already attached themselves to her and have begun to spread the metal infection to further parts of her legs.

"By the way I forgot to mention, once my seeds are done「draining」 the heat out of an object, they will「sprout」and disperse more seeds." Hanako said. "Those seeds coming through the floor are from the ones I've planted on the nurse downstairs."

The heaviness of her limbs caused Sayaka to drop to the floor. Madoka dropped down beside her. The cloud of seeds in the sky continued to float towards their hapless target, combining in force with the seeds rising from downstairs.

"I've sandwiched you completely! There's nowhere you can run now!" Hanako yelled victoriously.

"D-Damn…" Sayaka said. Her opponent has placed her in a inescapable checkmate and she laid down in defeat. She glanced to Madoka; her pink haired friend was staring back at her with confused, fearful eyes. The stare reminded Sayaka of her failure to be there for her friend nights ago, but it was not going to be a mistake to be repeated.

"Madoka…" Sayaka said. "...Don't worry about what is going to happen to me…"

"...Mmmmph?" Madoka said against her gag.

"Blue Oyster Cult!" Sayaka yelled, calling out her stand. The armored being quickly punched the ground, shortening the lighter's distance from her until the lighter was only inches away. She grabbed the lighter.

"Are you serious?" Hanako mocked. "You still trying to use the lighter to ward off the seeds?"

"No…" Sayaka said. She used all of her remaining strength to stand up, struggling against the weight in her limbs. "This isn't for the seeds…"

"Oh...then what is it for?" Hanako replied.

"It's...for me," Sayaka said, as she lit the sleeve of her uniform on fire.

"What!?" Hanako yelled, completely taken by surprise of her foe's action.

"MMMPHHHHHH!" Madoka screamed, seeing the flame spread to the rest of Sayaka's outfit. Witnessing her friend being being set ablaze was too much for her, and she struggled against her bounds to no avail.

"Are you insane!?" Hanako scoffed, as Sayaka charged towards her.

Caught off by surprise, Hanako was unable to stop Sayaka from using Blue Oyster Cult to teleport only a few feet away from her. The seeds in the air and from the ground, attracted to the newfound heat source that is the burning uniform, followed behind her and away from Madoka.

"S***!" Hanako screamed. "IRON BUTTERFLY!"

The moss headed stand appeared in front of its master, and proceeded to shed seeds from its arms by the dozen in a frenzied speed. The seeds formed a wall between itself and the charging Sayaka, and soon the blue haired stand user fell to the ground, engulfed by seeds from all sides.

"Ha!" Hanako laughed. "Ha ha! Was that your「last resort」? A pointless suicide charge, to distract the seeds away from your friend!? You idiot! I've won!"

The seeds continue to pile on Sayaka until her body was lost in a large fluffy mound. Soon she was no longer visible, engulfed completely by Iron Butterfly's ability.

"Well now...I guess that takes care of that…" Hanako said. The pile of seeds continue to grow as more and more seeds piled on, until what looked like a mountain of fuzzy snow sat on top of where Sayaka fell. Hanako began to slowly walk over to Madoka, who was still reeling from shock. That was when she heard a voice come out from under the seeds.

"_The next line you'll say...is 'that pitiful stand of yours could have never defeat my Iron Butterfly!'"_

"That pitiful stand of yours could never defeat my-...WAIT, WHAT THE FU-" Hanako yelled, as turned her attention to the seed mound.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ

"Huh? Why is there a rumbling noise coming from the-" Hanako was cut off mid-sentence as a sharp object was flung out of the seed pile and stabbed her right in the forehead.

"GAHHHHHHHHH!" Hanako yelled. Blood trickled down her face as she painfully pulled out the object that hit her. She looked down at the object and saw that it was a really big hairpin in the shape of two musical notes, with one of its jutting edges covered in her own blood. She clutched her forehead. The suddenness and severity of the injury had caused her to disengage her stand. The seeds began to disperse into the air and disappearing one after another.

"S***! S***! S***!" Hanako swore. She fell to her knees. Drops of blood began to drip between her fingers. Just as she began to recover, a shadow loomed over her.

"!?" Hanako quickly turned around, and was met with a blue armored fist to the face.

"GAAAAAAARGH!" Hanako grunted, as the force of the punch caused her to be knocked against the adjacent fence. The wound on her head got worse as a result of the attack. She fought to open her eyes, and when she did, she saw Sayaka Miki standing in front of her, completely resolute. A third of Sayaka's face and most of her limbs were turned to metal, and her uniform was greatly torn and burnt, revealing bits of her white undershirt, but she was still for the most part not a statue. The blue haired stand user's hairpin was gone, and that was when Hanako realized Sayaka must have turned her own hairpin into a throwing dagger using her stand's lengthening abilities.

"W-What!?" Hanako said. "You should have been completely immobile by now! After being attacked by so many seeds! You couldn't have throw your hairpin!"

"Yeah...about that…" Sayaka said. She opened the collar of her shirt and revealed several of what looked like square plates of tin layered in front of a black rag.

"You can't see it now...but these pieces of metal used to be「white napkins」…" Sayaka said, taking off the metal napkins and dropping them to the floor. "「White」「absorbs」heat. 「Black 「reflects」 heat. That's one of the few things I was able to learn from my boring classes."

Hanako stared in disbelief.

"Luckily I was able to find this black rag in the nurse's office." Sayaka said.

"Y-You mean?" Hanako stuttered.

"Yes...I made it so that the only「heated」part were the「white napkins」…"

"But...BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR WHITE UNDERSHIRT!?"

"Oh that…" Sayaka said. She pulled out a bag filled with water. "I found this ice pack in the nurse's office. Every nurse's office should have one of those right? I placed it under my white undershirt. When I lit myself on fire, the bag melted and cooling water spread all over the inside of my uniform. Good thing your「seeds」 absorbed the fire before the liquid could evaporate."

_Impossible. _Hanako thought to herself. _According to_「_Margot_」'_s report, Sayaka Miki should be an idiot! There's no way she could have planned all this out! Unless...unless the stand is making her smarter! _

"I got trapped by your seeds on purpose...so I can get close to you and catch you off guard for a surprise attack," Sayaka said, her Blue Oyster Cult appearing beside her. "Now before I beat you senseless...I want to know…"

"Know...know about what?" Hanako said, gritting her teeth.

"About everything. Who you are, how you got a stand, why you are trying to kidnap my friend, and that thing about「formerly being a witch」. I want to know the whole truth before…"

"Before...what?"

"Before I knock out all your teeth and put you in the hospital for a few days, making you unable to talk." Sayaka said. Blue Oyster Cult cracked its knuckles.

"Heh, YOU THINK I'LL BE THREATENED BY YOU!?" Hanako roared. A dandelion-covered arm appeared behind her. Sayaka did not give her enemy a chance to act.

"_**VADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADA!~"**_

Blue Oyster Cult pummeled Hanako's body with fist after fist, causing the fence that held her to be crumpled and indented greatly by the forceful impacts, creating a net that was suspended over the air. The stand would have kept on punching, if it weren't for Sayaka feeling her hands get heavier.

"W-What is this?" Sayaka said, calling off her stand from attacking. She was surprised at seeing eeds sprout on her stand's hand, when she was sure she placed Hanako in a checkmate.

"Heh heh heh...surprised?" Hanako said. Sayaka studied her opponent and saw that the places on Hanako's body where Blue Oyster Cult punched were not bruised but indented like metal. Her skin was silvery like the nurse's.

"I planted a few「seeds」on「myself」...beneath my「epidermis」...turning my own「skin」 into a「metal shield」…" Hanako said, grinning with a bruised cheek. "And not only did I withstand the brunt of your attacks, I also managed to plant some「seeds」on your stand when it punched me."

Hanako was confident in her victory, but to her surprise Sayaka was giggling.

"Hee hee hee," Sayaka said.

"What are the hell are you giggling about?" Hanako demanded. "Haven't you realized you're infected with more of my seeds now?"

"Well...its the fact that you think you've won…"

"Huh?" Hanako said, as she realized there was an important fact she overlooked; the fence was dented by Blue Oyster Cult's fists.

"...啊..." Hanako said.

"Wow...I didn't know you were bilingual," Sayaka remarked, as the crosshatching metal wire that made up the fence increased in length, causing a gap to form beneath Hanako.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hanako bellowed, as she fell to the ground below.

* * *

"Eh? What was that?" Mami said. She heard a screaming coming from somewhere. She showed up to school quite late, having been enthralled by Nagisa's story about witches, stands, and vampires. Everyone was in class right now and there was not a person in sight outside on the school grounds. The veteran magical girl turned her head upwards to the roof of the school and saw a green haired girl falling from what looked like a deformed and enlarged section of the fence.

"Oh no!" Mami yelled. Skipping the well animated transformation sequence, Mami turned into a magical girl instantly and created a net of ribbons to catch the falling girl. She made it in time and the girl was saved from the pavement.

Mami breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the girl and saw that she was bleeding from the forehead and she could have sworn she saw tiny silver dots on the girl's skin, which were gone after she had blinked.

_She looks like she's the victim of a witch attack. But my soul gem isn't detecting any witches nearby… _Mami thought, as the mysterious green haired girl began to wake up.

"Ugghhh...wha…?" The green haired girl said groggily, turning to Mami.

"Relax...you're safe now…" Mami said reassuringly.

"Y-You saved me?" The green hair girl replied innocently.

"Yes...this may sound strange...but I'm a「magical girl」. I have magic powers that I use to protect people from monsters called「witches」. Did a witch attack you?"

"A monster...called a witch?" The girl said. "I...if you're talking about the「creature」that attacked me on the「rooftop」...then yes…"

"On the rooftop?"

"Yes...its still there…"

"Alright...you stay here. I'll go check it out." Mami said as she turned around.

"Wait!"

Mami turned back to face the green haired girl. She was visibly frightened.

"I...I never got your name," the girl said shyly.

Mami smiled. "My name is Mami Tomoe. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Hanako...thanks for saving me,"

"Don't mention it! Its what I do." Mami said, as she headed towards the school building.

* * *

_Heh heh heh you idiot. Of course I know who you are, Mami. You're the magical girl who shot me when I was a witch! _Hanako thought.

As the former president of the drama club at Mitakihara High School before she became a witch, Hanako Kimura perfected the art of putting up appearances and put the skill to good use. She has fooled Mami into thinking she was a innocent bystander, and not an enemy stand user. With Mami's back turned to her, Iron Butterfly's arm materialized out of Hanako's body.

_Her back is turned...if I can plant a seed on her soul gem...I can use her as a hostage..._

Hanako followed silently behind Mami, with Iron Butterfly's arm raised above the veteran magical girl's head.

_This is revenge for blasting me you drill haired bitch! _

But Hanako couldn't finish her attack, as a rifle butt swiftly slammed into her face.

"AARRRRRRGHH!" Hanako screamed, clutching her face and falling to the ground, rolling around in pain.

"I knew it was you…"

Hanako looked up and saw Mami giving her a serious glare. She held an elaborately designed musket in her arm and pointed it at Hanako.

"W-What are you doing?" Hanako said, trying to put up her innocent facade again. Mami saw through it.

"Oh come now, I know you're the「stand user」," Mami replied.

"EH!? How could you have known!?"

"Because if there really was a witch attacking the school, my「soul gem」would have picked it up. And if the attack really was on the rooftop, then there would have been a clearly visible barrier. Looks like being a stand user all this time made you forget the basic rules of being a magical girl."

"...S***!" Hanako swore. "But...but how did you know there were stand users in this town?"

"Nagisa told me. She told me what you「Witch Tarot」are up to,"

Hanako froze at the sound of the Witch Tarot's name. She did not expect Mami to know so much. But the stand user was not deterred, even with a gun pointed at her. After all, she had Iron Butterfly, which Mami couldn't see nor hurt. Hanako picked herself up and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, her innocent eyes quickly replaced by eyes filled with bloodlust.

"So...little「Charlotte」told you everything?" Hanako said. "What difference does it make? You think you can fight me with that rifle of yours? My stand will knock the bullets away easily!"

"Oh…" Mami said. She put away her rifle and disengaged her magical girl form. "I'm not the one who is going to fight you…"

"Huh? Then who is?"

"The blue haired girl behind you of course."

"Eh?" Hanako said, as she felt a hand land on her shoulder. The green haired girl turned around to see a pissed off Sayaka.

"I've already asked you this, but are you finally ready for your beating?" Sayaka said.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊!" Hanako screamed.

"I'll take that as a「yes」." Sayaka said calmly, her fast reaction causing Blue Oyster Cult to manifest before Hanako could summon more seeds.

"_**VADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADADA! VADA VIA!~"**_

With a bare minimum of metal left on her, Hanako was unshielded from Sayaka's attacks. The green haired stand user was instantly knocked out cold by the blows and flew into a pile of trash cans, causing them to rattle and crash against each other from the impact.

"*phew*" Sayaka said. Having defeated her opponent, the metal infection from her body began to fade, and she sat on the ground exhausted.

"So I assume that was the doing of your「stand」." Mami said.

"Huh?" Sayaka exclaimed. She turned to Mami. "How did you know I have a stand? Heck, how do you even know what a stand is?"

"A girl called Nagisa Momoe told me." Mami said. Her smiling expression was turned to one of seriousness. "Sayaka...there's more stand users in Mitakihara than you think."

"Yeah I figured…" Sayaka said, looking over the unconscious Hanako laid out on the trash bins. "Hey...who is this Nagisa Momoe chick?"

"She's a stand user...like you," Mami said. "And...nevermind."

Sayaka studied Mami. She looked uneasy.

"Mami...is something the matter?" Sayaka said.

Mami took a deep breath. It was no use keeping it a secret forever.

"She was also a former witch...like you were…" Mami said quietly.

"..." Sayaka had a dumb expression on her face as her brain comprehended her friend's words.

"...WHAT!?" Sayaka yelled. She jumped to her feet and grabbed Mami by the shoulders. "What do you mean I was a former witch!?"

Sayaka thought back to what Hanako told her during their fight on the rooftop, of how both of them were former witches.

"You mean…" Sayaka said, pointing to the unconscious Hanako. "You mean she was right?"

"Sayaka...please...you're hurting me…"

"Oh…" Sayaka said, releasing her grip. "Sorry...but still! This is too crazy! And how did you know I was a witch?"

"Well…we saw you turn into one." Mami said.

"We? What do you mean「we」?"

"Madoka, Homura, Kyoko, and I...we all saw you turn into a witch."

"...EH!?" Sayaka yelled. Her eyes widened in disbelief and bewilderment at the news. "How...what...when...why..."

"I can fill you in on the details later. We need to get out of here.

"Huh? Why?"

Have you forgotten the school has glass walls?" Mami said. Sayaka turned around and saw a few of her fellow students staring at them wide-eyed from the glass walls of the school, having witnessed everything leading up to Hanako's pummeling.

"Ah crap…" Sayaka said.

"To them, we just beat up a innocent school girl using bizarre powers. We better leave before people start freaking out." Mami said.

"Alright...alright...just...give me a second."

"Huh? How come?"

"I...I left Madoka tied up on the rooftop. I..I was so caught up, that I forgot to free her this entire time!" Sayaka said sheepishly. She rubbed the back of her head and gave an embarrassed grin. Mami stared at her friend in disbelief.

"And before I forget…" Sayaka said. She walked over to Hanako and picked her up, slumping her body on her shoulders.

"What are you going to do with her?" Mami asked.

"I promised「someone」that I'd tell him if I see a「stand attack」." Sayaka said. "Well I just got involved in one. After we get Madoka from the roof, I'll be heading over towards the Speedwagon Foundation local headquarters that was set up recently. That「someone」will be very interested in interrogating this girl here."

"The Speedwagon Foundation?" Mami said. She thought back to what Josuke told her, about how he's off doing tasks for an organization called the Speedwagon Foundation a night after the Ballroom Blitz incident.

"Who...is this man you are going to talk to?" Mami said.

"Oh...he's a「stand user」too. His name is Jotaro Kujo."

* * *

"Oh goddamn it," Kirika Kure muttered to herself, spying on Mami and Sayaka from atop a adjacent rooftop. The black haired Mitakihara Middle School student skipped school using a fake stomach flu as an excuse. The truth was, she was the pick-up that Hanako was talking about. The original plan was for Hanako to meet Kirika on the rooftop and deliver Madoka Kaname to her, but as Kirika looked out onto the same rooftop using her binoculars, she saw that Hanako was knocked unconscious and taken prisoner, and Madoka was promptly freed by Mami and Sayaka.

"No! No! No!...Oriko is gonna be pissed!" Kirika said frustratingly. She threw the binoculars forcibly onto the floor, causing them to break.

"And that yellow haired girl...I heard her mention something about Nagisa blabbing about the「Witch Tarot」…what a liability." Kirika said. She pulled out a cellphone and opened a contact list. She scrolled down the list until it reached not Oriko's number, but a number belonging to someone named「Patricia」. Kirika pressed dial and the phone began to ring.

"...Oh come on, pick up already damn it!" Kirika said. An answering machine voice began to play.

"_Hi! You've reached the number for Aimi Aozora! But you can call me I_「_Annie_」_! I__'m not at the phone right now but I'll get back to you as soon as possible, I promise! Please leave a message after the tone!"_

"...Oh for fu-...I know you're there Annie! You're always sleeping in late!" Kirika yelled angrily, when a groggy voice answered the phone.

"_...Ugghh...eh...who is this?"_

"It's me...「Margot」"

"_..._"

"Hello? You there?"

"_...I'm sorry, I think you got the wrong number...I don't know anyone named Margot."_

Kirika slapped her forehead.

"IT'S ME YOU IDIOT! KIRIKA KURE!"

"..._Ohhhhhhhhhhh…Kirika...why didn't you say so? Who the heck is Margot?"_

"Its our codenames you imbecile! What's the point of codenames if we can't use them?"

"_Hey don't yell. And for your information, I never agreed to these stupid codenames. I mean, my codename is_「_Patricia_」! _Why am I called_「_Patricia_」? _I'm not some gaijin!"_

"...But you liked being called Annie?"

"_Hey shut up! That's different!" _

"Whatever! Look, that's not important right now! I need you and your stand「Smooth Criminal」to do something for me okay?"

"_...Can't it wait until a while? I was in the middle of sleeping…"_

"...Its freakin one o'clock in the afternoon!"

"_...Alright alright. Sheesh. No need to get your panties in a bunch...what do you want me to do?"_

"I need you...to get rid of「Charlotte」...I fear Oriko's「flesh bud」has been removed and she will reveal very sensitive information about our operations."

"_..."_

"Hello? Annie?"

"_...Who the hell is Charlotte?"_

Kirika was losing the little patience she had remaining.

"Oh for-...It's Nagisa!...Nagisa Momoe."

"_...Oh right...that girl with the weird cheese fetish. Okay, I'm on it. By the way...isn't Hanako supposed to be abducting Madoka Kaname today?"_

"Yes...but…"

"_...But?"_

"But she was defeated...by that new stand user...Sayaka Miki."

"_Seriously? Goddamn...and I thought Iron Butterfly was actually worth a damn. You need me to abduct Madoka as well then? My_「_Smooth Criminal_」_can do it you know."_

"No...you concentrate on getting Char- I mean Nagisa. I'll send in someone else to get her."

"_Alright if you say so...bye bye."_

"Ciao." Kirika said, ending the call. She clicked back to the contact list and scrolled up to a number titled「Elly」.

_Hanako's Iron Butterfly may have failed, but even I'm not sure I can beat __Elly __and her stand_「_New Order_」_. She will accomplish what Gertrud couldn't. _Kirika thought, as she dialed the number.

_New Order's destructive potential makes Charlotte's Ballroom Blitz look tame in comparison. But whatever the cost, Madoka Kaname must be delivered to Oriko!_

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **Just finished two midterms, and I have one big midterm and one networking event coming up. I wanted to squeeze this chapter in so I didn't leave the followers to this story hanging on what is going to happen next in the fight. Overall, I hope I did a good job wrapping up the Iron Butterfly encounter, but some things I had to cut and some things I had to make up on the spot. I know for sure the science parts are iffy, but I guess its forgiveable since Araki uses psuedo-science in his stand fights as well.

Also, I'm actually kind of angry that Stardust Crusaders won't continue until January. I don't think I'll survive until then.


	18. A Ribbon in the Sky Part 1

**Chapter 18 - A Ribbon in the Sky Part 1**

_The class representative witch. _

_H__er nature is to remain_ _an_「 _onlooker_」.

_Using the_「 _spider-like threads_ 」_which she vomits forth,__  
_

_She created a school for herself alone within the_「 _sky_」_of her barrier and endlessly acts out an ordinary daily student life there. _

_I__f you ring the going-home bell, this witch will likely return to her house somewhere._

* * *

SPEEDWAGON FOUNDATION MITAKIHARA HEADQUARTERS

"_So...still no idea about what happened to her?"_

"_Yare yare...not a clue…"_

The voices reached Homura's ear and gradually woke her from her unconsciousness. She didn't know how much time has passed since her confrontation with Kira and the development of her stand. All she knew was that there were secrets hiding in this timeline that didn't exist in others, such as the presence of a secret population of stand users in Mitakihara, and the identity of the one who gave her a stand; the「bug-like」stand mentioned by Kira.

"_Hey...I think she's coming to!"_

Homura opened her eyes slowly, and saw that she was laying on a bed in a room located in a unknown building; she wore a cleaned and repaired Mitakihara Middle School uniform. There were tables, shelves of books, and furniture but nothing that resembles medical equipment or hospital scenery. Rather, the room resembled a guest bedroom. Two tall men were standing at the foot of her bed. The man to her left she immediately recognized as Josuke Higashikata due to his hairstyle. He was out of his medical intern uniform and was wearing what looked like a highschool uniform adorned with peace signs and hearts on its other man was a stranger to her; he was older than Josuke and wore a white coat and a strange white cap that had golden embroidery in the shape of a dolphin and a sun. The hat seemed to be merging with the man's hair.

"Well...looks like you've fully recovered," The man with the hat said. His stoicism rivaled Homura's.

"Where...where am?" Homura said.

"You're in the SPW local HQ." Josuke answered. "Luckily Jotaro here called me so I can fix you with my stand. You sustained some pretty nasty injuries."

Homura turned to face Josuke. It was true that her body no longer felt any pain. In fact, the ex-magical girl never felt any better.

"Did...did you really heal me?" Homura said. "After...what I've done...back at the hospital?"

"Ah, don't mention it. You probably didn't mean it." Josuke replied, smiling. Homura began to feel of shame and regret having learned the man whom she mistrusted and berated from the beginning was also the same person who just saved her life.

"I...I'm sorry…for what I've done." Homura said timidly.

"Don't sweat it. You were just looking out for your friends."

"And...I'm sorry about insulting your hair."

"... I agree that part was a bit harsh, buti t's alright, I forgive you."

"...You're hair is awesome."

"...Er...okay. It's alright. Really."

"...Your hair is really good. Super cool."

"...Okay, you can stop now."

"Yare yare," Jotaro interrupted. He had enough of the awkward exchange happening between the girl on the bed and his uncle. "You two had enough? We've got more important matters to discuss than your hair Josuke."

"Hey! What did you say about-" Before Josuke could finish his sentence, his cell phone began to ring. He fished the phone out of his pants pocket and opened it to see it was a call from Mami.

"Oh hey, what's u-" Josuke's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait...what!? Are you serious? S***! I'm on my way!"

Both Homura and Jotaro saw the panic in Josuke as he bolted towards the door leading out of the bedroom.

"Hold it," Jotaro said. Josuke stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"What's the matter? Who called?" Jotaro asked.

"I can't explain it now!" Josuke said in a frenzied tone. "I have to go see someone!"

"...Does this someone happen to be a magical girl?"

"What!?" Josuke said in a surprised tone. Jotaro never believed him before about the presence of magical girls, so there had to be a reason why now. "You believe in magical girls now or you just messing with me!?"

"...Let's just say I verified it with an outside source." Jotaro pulled out a small object out of his jacket and threw it to Josuke. Josuke put out his hands and catched the object; it was a shiny amulet with a design that vaguely resembles a beetle with a fin sticking out.

"Huh? What is this? Is this jewelry? What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Josuke said.

"Let's just say I have a hunch it will be useful...keep it for the time being, it might come in handy," Jotaro said. Josuke didn't bother to question his nephew further and rushed out of the room, with amulet in hand.

"I should go with him…" Homura said, climbing out of bed. She wanted to repay Josuke for his kindness. After all, she made a promise to Reimi to try and make friends with him.

"Don't worry about Josuke...he has a strong mind and stand. Besides, I have already called one of his「best allies」to come to this town and help him out. He should be somewhere in this town by now." Jotaro said. The marine biologist took out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth. He took a puff and turned his attention to Homura.

"And furthermore, you're more useful to me here."

"Useful?" Homura said. "How would I be useful?"

Jotaro took an additional puff. "Your friend, Sayaka Miki, came earlier today. She dropped off a「special someone」, who is currently being held in the basement of this complex."

"Sayaka Miki?" Homura said. She didn't expect to hear that name. "What was she doing here? Who did she drop off?"

"A girl named「Hanako Kimura」."

Homura tried to remember all the magical girls she met in alternate timelines. She remembered a girl with a bucket on her head and a girl with an eyepatch and large black claws, but she has never encountered someone named Hanako Kimura.

"Who...who is she?" Homura said.

"That's the thing...I need someone with knowledge of 「magical girls」 to interrogate her and find out properly."

"Why? Is she a magical girl?"

"Well...according to what little we could get out of her with「truth serum」, she was「formerly」 one."

"Formerly?"

"Yup," Jotaro took several more puffs of his cigarette before disposing of it in a nearby ashtray. "But now...she's somehow a「stand user」."

* * *

Josuke hopped onto his scooter parked outside of the SPW building. Ever since his fight with a motorcycle racer named Yuuya Fungami and his stand「Highway Star」, the pompadoured stand user wanted to get a motorcycle of his own. However, the most he could afford on his budget (which was severely diminished after his mother found out about his lottery fortune and locked his bank account) was a simple Vespa scooter. Regardless, the Vespa performed its duties well enough and proved to be a reliable tool in moving through Mitakihara's intricate system of streets and roads.

Josuke turned on the ignition and sped towards the direction of Mami Tomoe's apartment. The reason for his panic was simple; Mami just reported Nagisa was kidnapped. Her voice on the phone was alarmed and frightened. It seemed that Nagisa had just disappeared; vanished in a blink of an eye. Josuke replayed what Mami told him over the phone in his mind; of how Nagisa was coming over to Mami's apartment for cooking lessons after the two became good friends. But just as Mami was going into the next room to get a recipe book, she found that Nagisa was gone from the apartment. At first, Mami thought she simply left home early to go to the family she recently reunited with, until she found Nagisa's shoe lying in the middle of the floor of the kitchen. Furthermore, the window to the kitchen was seemingly forced open, with what looked like the window's bolts laying on the window sill. These occurrences were too strange to be written off, and Mami quickly called Josuke for help.

"S***, S***, S***" Josuke said to himself as he drove through the streets. There were two possibilities in his mind; either a witch got her, or a stand user did. The latter was the worse case scenario, because Mami, despite being a seasoned fighter, was at a disadvantage when dealing with stands.

Without warning, Josuke's Vespa jolted to an abrupt stop, flinging off its driver onto the pavement. Josuke tumbled onto the ground, his custom made helmet with a specialized pompadour compartment (he didn't want his hair getting ruffled) making a clacking noise as it hit the asphalt.

"What the f***" Josuke, standing up and rubbing his sore bottom. He looked around to see what could have made his Vespa stop suddenly just like that. His gaze fell on something you don't see everyday; a black sailor fuku uniform stuck on a powerline several meters away from him. Usually one would expect sneakers or a stuffed animal toy to be stuck on such lines, but never an entire school uniform. The uniform was not Mitakihara Middle School's and had a more traditional design.

"What the hell? Who would leave an entire uniform up there?" Josuke pondered. He directed his attention back to his Vespa. Thinking his scooter was just acting up, Josuke walked towards his ride. However, as he neared his Vespa, Josuke stopped in his tracks and had to rub his eyes to believe what he was seeing. His scooter was floating a few inches off the ground. Upon closer scrutiny, Josuke could see miniscule strands of what looked like semi-transparent string jutting out of various places in the scooter, making his Vespa resemble a marionette puppet.

Before Josuke could worry about the string, a dark shadow loomed over him. He turned his head up and stared straight at the powerline that held the uniform; the uniform was gone. His instincts of fear overpowering his body, Josuke swiftly turned around, and saw that the uniform was floating right behind him.

"What the-" Josuke said. The uniform floated in place, as if it was worn by an invisible person. But Josuke's eyes widened as he glimpsed at what looked like four yellow eyes glaring back at him from inside the darkness of the uniform's collar.

_Oh s***! That's no school uniform! That's a goddamn stand! _

Not giving the chance for the uniform-stand to attack, Josuke called out his Crazy Diamond which proceeded to rush towards the uniform.

"_**DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!~"**_

The uniform-stand gracefully contorted its body and dodged everyone of Crazy Diamond's punches. Seizing the chance, the it wrapped itself around Crazy Diamond's arms and began to squeeze tightly like a boa constrictor trapping its prey. Josuke's own arms began to feel the surprising amount of pressure emanating from the uniform-stand.

"_You've been hit...by a_「_Smooth Criminal_」_,"_The uniform-stand said with a metallic yet girlish voice.

"Y-You bastard…" Josuke said. With his stand's arms bounded together, the pompadoured stand user could do nothing as he was lifted miles into the sky above. Jotaro's amulet fell out of his pants pocket.

* * *

"Where is he?" Mami said. She was pacing back and forth in the living room of her apartment, anxiously waiting for Josuke to arrive. If whatever kidnapped Nagisa was a witch, she wouldn't have called Josuke. However, witches don't kidnap people just like that; at worst, they place witch's kisses on them and wait for them to wander into their barrier. The veteran magic girl has never heard of a witch that would single out a target and make them vanish into thin air just like that. Additionally, Mami had a feeling that stand users weren't as easily susceptible to being controlled by a witch; even if they were, Nagisa's Ballroom Blitz would have deterred any witch from attacking her. Rather, whatever made Nagisa disappear seemed to have made planned Nagisa's kidnapping, and witches for the most part were incapable of planning; Nagisa's kidnapper had to be a stand user.

Just as Mami was about to leave to look for Josuke, she heard something plop onto her kitchen floor. She bolted to the kitchen and glanced around until her eyes fell onto a shiny, ornamentally decorated object that laid beside the wall with the open window.

"Huh? How did that get here?" Mami said, as she went to the object and picked it up. It seemed to be an amulet of some sort, with a main body that resembled a beetle mixed with a shark or dolphin. As she fumbled with the object with in her hand, a sharp pain shot through her index finger.

"OW!" Mami yelled, dropping the amulet to the floor. Her finger was slightly bleeding, and she refused to waste magic on healing such an insignificant wound. She pulled open a drawer and found a packet of band-aids. She took one out and wrapped it around her injury. She looked back to the amulet, which was cracked opened, allowing her to see its contents; contained inside the amulet was what looked like a fragment of a bizarre stone.

"What the heck?" Mami said, studying the stone. "Was that what cut me? I've never seen any rock like it."

Mami suddenly began to feel a weird sensation, as her vision became slightly blurred. She blinked her eyes and rubbed them, only to find that the blurring sensation became worse. But as she strained her eyes, she realized her vision wasn't blurry; she was beginning to see what looked like thousands of see-through strings that filled the kitchen interior. The strings weren't there the second before, so it was no wonder why Mami was caught off guard by their presence.

"EH!? How...how did all this string get into my apartment?" Mami said. Alarmed by the presence of the mysterious string, Mami ran to the other room to get her soul gem. When inside her apartment, Mami felt no need to keep her gem in ring form and held it in a small lockable chest. She opened the chest with a combination; there her soul gem sat, glowing yellow and with a tiny floral decoration on top. Just as she reached for her gem, Mami could have sworn she saw a small hand press itself against the walls of her gem from the inside. Mami blinked her eyes and the hand was gone.

_What the? Was that a hand inside my soul gem? Or am I hallucinating? _

Mami thought back to the amulet and the stone that it held.

_What...what did that amulet do to me? _

Mami pushed her thoughts regarding the hand inside her soul gem the peculiar amulet aside as she transformed into a magical girl, her gem becoming a hairpin.

_I can't waste time waiting for Josuke! Those string...those string must have been responsible for Nagisa's disappearance! I can follow them!_

Mami ran back into the kitchen, to the open window where all the string were coming from. She saw that the strings' source was located somewhere above her apartment and she went to the window to get a better look. Mami had to strain her eyes to see that the string had a ridiculous length; they extended several meters into the sky to the point where they disappeared behind a group of clouds. This meant that the true source of the string, along with Nagisa's possible location, was located at a very high altitude.

But Mami was not afraid; her desire to protect her friends was greater than the fear she felt at climbing the string into the clouds above.

_Witch, stand user...It doesn't matter! I will do anything to protect my friends! _Mami thought, as she grabbed a hold of one of the strings and began to climb towards the sky. With her soul gem on her head, Mami was not aware that it began to pulsate slightly.

* * *

MITAKIHARA SKIES - APPROXIMATELY 2000 METERS ABOVE GROUND LEVEL

On a fair or sunny day, the most common type of cloud present in the skies are known as「cumulus clouds」. These clouds are a type of low-level cloud that normally exist at two thousand meters above ground level. Mami Tomoe did not know this fact, nor did she care. No matter how high she had to climb, she will do anything to rescue her friend. Luckily, her superhuman magical girl durability allowed her to climb the string leading into the clouds without much struggle. As she neared a few inches away from a cloud, she called out a musket and shot out a ribbon through the cloud to latch on to the string on the other side, using it as a grappling hook. As she broke through the cloud's mist and came out on the other end, she saw something truly extraordinary; on the other side of the cloud cluster was a gargantuan layer of string extending as far as the eye can see. The whole structure resembled an oversized spider web of sorts, complete with a crosshatching pattern. The structure had no indication of what it could possibly be attached to or what it used as a foundation, as the only other objects this high were clouds.

"This...this all seems familiar." Mami said. She remembered vaguely that she fought a witch that had a barrier with a similar set up and sky theme. But whatever has produced the impressive architectural feat before her was no witch; no familiars were attacking her and her soul gem was not glowing. The web existed in the physical plane was not a pocket dimension like a witch's barrier. This did not comfort Mami but rather unsettled her even more.

Mami began to walk around the giant web, which was sturdy enough to withstand her weight. She walked towards the center of the web when she saw what looked like a small rectangle located smack dab in the center. As she hopped towards the rectangle, it gradually came into view and Mami saw what the rectangle really was; it was a large wooden cabin with a chimney and a thatched roof. The roof wasn't thatched with straw or grass, but rather with large clusters of string. To Mami, the sight of a house laying in the middle of this web was more bizarre than the web itself.

"A cabin? Who would build it up here?" Mami said. She walked near the house and saw that a mailbox sat in front of the building, with the word "Annie" emblazoned on it.

"Annie?" Mami said, as she studied the mailbox. "Is that the name of the person who built the cabin?"

The magical girl opened the mailbox and saw that there was a letter inside. She pulled it out to see that the letter had already been opened. Inside was a single folded up white document, with two pictures paperclipped behind it. Mami began to study the document.

The document was a map of Mitakihara. Mitakihara Middle School and the shopping mall was circled in red, with the words "8AM - 2PM" written beside the school and "common hang out place" written beside the mall with the same marker. Additionally, another circle was drawn over the location of Mami's apartment.

"What the heck? Why is my apartment circled?" Mami said. The words "common hang out place" was written beside her apartment as well, with an additional sentence saying "Nagisa's location."

_Nagisa! Her name is mentioned here! _Mami thought. Other locations were circled on the map such as the town hospital, the train station, and a large building labeled "SPW". Mami had no idea what the circles meant or the significance of the other locations, but she knew that her apartment was targeted because Nagisa was there. Someone was spying on her living place the entire time, and Mami was creeped out by the fact that there was a stalker up in the clouds.

Mami flipped over the document to see the two pictures, and her heart skipped a beat; one was a picture of a girl with pink hair in a middle school uniform and the other picture was of a elementary age girl in a polka dot dress who had white hair. Mami instantly recognized both girls as Madoka Kaname and Nagisa Momoe respectively.

The sound of a door clicking came from behind Mami interrupted her thoughts, and she hastily shoved the document back into the envelope and into the mailbox. Using her ribbons, she latched onto the chimney and jumped on to the the roof. She laid low and peeked out from the roof edge to see who would come out of the cabin.

A teenaged girl walked out; she wore a black sailor fuku uniform of the same type that Mitakihara High School students wore. The girl wore glasses and her dark brown hair was tied up in a spiky knot, with bangs in the front that parted in the middle which made her hairstyle vaguely resemble a spider with fangs bared. The girl also wore several brooches on her uniform that were in the design hearts and peace signs. Because she was still in middle school, Mami could not say she recognized the girl since she did not talk to a lot of high school students.

The mysterious girl gave off a big yawn and stretched her arms and neck. She didn't walk towards the mailbox but rather slid to it and Mami soon saw how; the girl was wearing a pair of ice skates that allowed her to slide gracefully across individual strings. As the girl neared the mailbox, Mami pulled back and began to sweat from panic and fear that the girl will discover her presence by inspecting the mailbox and the ruffled letter. As time passed, Mami gathered up the courage to peek over the roof. To her surprise the girl had gone.

Mami breathed a sigh of relief.

"*phew*, looks like I didn't get disco-"

"_Hey..._「_are you OK_」_?"_

Mami froze; the voice had come from behind her. She turned around to see the high school girl staring back at her. She managed to sneak up on the magical girl without alerting her senses.

"I asked you...「are you OK」?" the girl said. Her voice lacked any aggression and was instead curious. "You're sweating. Are you sick or something?"

Mami didn't know what to say. She couldn't even tell if the girl in front of her was an enemy or not due to her nonchalant attitude and lack of killing intent.

"You want something to drink or eat? I got a fridge inside. It must have been exhausting climbing two thousand meters, even if you are a magical girl…" The girl said.

"W-What? You know I'm a magical girl?" Mami said.

"Of course...that gem on your head sure as hell isn't for decoration." The girl said. "My name is Aimi Aozora by the way. But you can call me「Annie」."

Annie smiled and offered her hand to Mami. Just then a shout came from Mami's right.

"_RUN MAMI-SAN! THAT GIRL IS DANGEROUS! YOU'LL DIE IF YOU FIGHT HER!" _

Mami quickly turned to the direction of the voice and was terrified by what she saw; it was Nagisa Momoe, bounded together by several string. The string acted like restrains, anchoring her into the nearby cumulus cloud and preventing her from breaking free. Some of the string was pierced into Nagisa's small body.

"N-NAGISA!?" Mami shouted. A strange light blue green liquid flowed through the strings and passed into Nagisa. Nagisa began to foam at the mouth and her body began to shake violently as more and more liquid was injected into her. The horrifying sight of her friend being subjected to such torture prompted Mami to raise her musket at Annie.

"What are you doing to her!?" Mami shouted, her arms trembling as she tried to focus her aim.

Annie's laid back demeanor did not change; instead, she seemed to be absolutely unperturbed by a gun pointed at her voice.

"Well…" Annie opened her mouth to speak. She turned to the convulsing Nagisa and ignored Mami. "Looks like I didn't use enough「venom」the first time. But this「dose」should be enough."

"Venom? What are you talking about!?" Mami yelled. Annie ignored her.

"Hmmmm...but I hope this「dosage」won't kill her. I need to leave her alive in case「Oriko-sama」still wants to use her…."

"HEY!" Mami bellowed. She fired off a warning shot which landed only a few centimeters away from Annie's feet. Annie did not flinch in the slightest, but at least she paid attention to Mami now.

"I don't know who you are!" Mami commanded. "But free Nagisa this instant or...or else!"

Annie stared at Mami. Her stare was piercing cold. "Go ahead…shoot me…see what happens."

Pushed by the fear for her friend's life and her own survival instincts, Mami jumped to her feet and called out even more muskets. She fired them consecutively at superhuman speed; the magic bullets sped their way towards Annie.

The bullets stopped in midair.

"W-wha-" Mami stuttered. She had to blink twice to register what was happening; the air condensed around the bullets and crushed the projectiles into nothing but magic dust. Mami stared in awe as she realized her bullets were not crushed by the air themselves but by string that instantaneously formed from the air, acting as a shield for Annie.

"Did you really think that would work?" Annie said. Nagisa, having been knocked unconscious by Annie's venom, was sinking into the cloud until she disappeared from sight.

Mami didn't hesitate to try something else; she called out her final attack. A large musket, which was nearly a third of the size of the cabin, materialized in the air above her. This was Mami's signature move:「Tiro Finale」.

"Gee...that's a pretty big gun." Annie said. She sounded whimsical.

"_TIRO FINALE!" _Mami shouted. The gun fired a powerful blast, at least a hundred times more powerful than the shots from Mami's muskets. The blast sped towards Annie like a ballistic missile, flying towards its target at tremendous speed. It was a powerful attack, and Mami was sure that Annie's strings, whatever they were, could not block it.

Annie didn't move. As the Tiro Finale was about to reach her, it suddenly froze in midair like the bullets. Mami was wrong; Annie's string could indeed stop her ultimate attack. The string barrier that protected Annie earlier was enlarged in a blink of an eye; thousands more string were created in the seconds before Tiro Finale could hit and added to the size and bulk of the barrier, creating a wall that would dwarf even Mami's trump card. Mami stared in awe as the ribbon formed from the blast was crushed like her bullets.

"Hey…" Annie said. "「Are you OK」? Your legs are shaking."

Mami's legs were indeed shaking, along with the rest of her body. She has never encountered someone or something who could block Tiro Finale so easily. Yet this girl Annie was able to do so without lifting a finger; Mami felt out of her league.

As Mami began to despair at the failure of her attack, she saw a dark shape appear behind Annie; at first Mami thought Annie's black sailor fuku uniform somehow duplicated itself, like a cell undergoing mitosis. But upon closer inspection, the second uniform was two sizes too big to be Annie's, and was more faded in color than the one Annie wore. The uniform also had an extra pair of sleeves which began to sprout large grey clawed arms. It sprouted two grey robotic legs from under its skirt, with each leg having a ice skating blade attached to the sole of its feet. The uniform bowed down, and Mami could see that there was a face inside the collar; it was round and perfectly flat with no visible neck attached to it. The face had four yellow eyes and an overbite with tiny needle like teeth. Mami's soul gem was not picking up anything, so the monster was not a witch. If that was the case, then the monster could only be a stand.

"Hmmmm?" Annie said. She noticed Mami's eyes widen. "「Are you OK」? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Y-You're a stand user!" Mami shouted, pointing at Annie's stand.

"...WHAT!?" Annie yelled. For the first time, her relaxed demeanor was gone. "Y-You can see my「Smooth Criminal」?"

Annie became agitated.

"Impossible! That「soul gem」,and that「outfit」! You are「merely」 a「magical girl」! There is no way you should be able to see my stand!"

Annie began to pace across the roof.

"But...it all makes sense now. There was no way you could have climbed all the way up here unless you could「see」and「touch」my「webbing」! Could...could you be a magical girl turned stand user in her「gestation」 period?"

Annie turned back to Mami to see that the veteran magical girl got over her feelings of defeat and pulled out several more muskets that littered the ground around her, while carrying two and aiming them towards Annie.

"Do you happen to be...one of the「Witch Tarot」?" Mami said. Her grip on her rifles were firm and she was no longer shaking from despair.

Annie stared at Mami in silence.

"Why yes...yes I am," Annie finally answered, her Smooth Criminal floating behind her.

"My stand here...「Smooth Criminal」, represents the「Class Representive Witch」,「Patricia」...I think…"

"...You...think?"

"Goddamn it...I don't remember my code name that well「OK」?" Annie shouted. "By the way...if you really are a stand user, that would mean you will be the 「fourth」stand user I have defeated today!"

"The...fourth?" Mami said, puzzled. She thought Nagisa was the only one that Annie fought so far this day.

"Yes...besides Nagisa...I also managed to defeat the one called「Josuke Higashikata」earlier…"

Mami's jaws dropped. She realized that the reason Josuke never showed up to her apartment was because Annie had already dispatched him, possibly in the same way she got Nagisa. She never expected Josuke to be taken down so easily.

"And even earlier...I defeated a stand user at the train station. He wore money signs all over his school uniform, which was really silly. His stand was strong, but thankfully he was an idiot. Looks like he is a visitor to this town much like Josuke."

Annie pointed a finger at Mami.

"And you...you're name is Mami right? You will be the fourth!"

Before Mami could react, Smooth Criminal lunged forward, its four arms poised to tear off Mami's head.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Author's notes: **So I'm done with the first round of midterms, but I now have to work on internship applications for a variety of firms. So I'll try to set up a update schedule, possibly every Friday.

As for Annie's stand, it seems like a Hierophant Green/Stone Free rip off at this point (and in some ways, I admit it is). But the way she creates the strings and the effects of the venom, which will be revealed later, will hopefully help distinguish her stand from the rest of the string stands.


	19. A Ribbon in the Sky Part 2

**Chapter 19 - A Ribbon in the Sky Part 2**

* * *

Mami opened her eyes. Blood was rushing to her head as she found herself suspended upside down, tied to the underside of a cloud with tons of string. She felt like a fly trapped by a spider.

Coming out of her daze, Mami tried to think back to what led to her current predicament. She remembered Smooth Criminal charging at her with its claws poised, swiping away the shots fired at it from her muskets. After that, all the magical girl could recall was the stand jumping over her. She was puzzled as to why the stand didn't attack, until she felt a prickling sensation on her skin. The next thing she knew, she was staring at her arm, where several string was sticking out of her arm. The string were colored blue by the venom seeping through them.

"「_Are you OK?_」_You look afraid. __I'm going to just put a little bit of _「_venom_」 _in you...I was thinking of killing you, but if you are a_「_stand user_」_, I can bring you to Oriko-sama instead. She's always looking for more stand users..."_

Mami shortly blacked out afterward. She didn't remember how she ended up tethered to a cloud nor what were the effects of the venom exactly. But whatever Smooth Criminal's venom did, it had the capacity to easily knock people unconscious. Mami shuddered as she recalled Nagisa, foaming at the mouth as the blue liquid was injected into her veins. However, what made Mami really afraid was the fact that Smooth Criminal's user, Annie, was able to defeat both Nagisa and Josuke Higashikata. Although she couldn't see them, Mami knew how powerful Ballroom Blitz and Crazy Diamond can be after witnessing the hospital fight that took out half of the building. And then there was the issue of the mysterious third stand user.

Mami put her thoughts aside to focus on escaping her current situation. She's been in many battles with witches and learned to control her fear when it counts. Even if the enemy has changed, panic wasn't going to help her escape her bonds. She began to survey her surroundings and at first, it seemed that there was nothing of interest except for clouds. That is, until she turned to her left and saw something that was simply too bizarre; beside her was at least a hundred other people, wrapped in string and anchored to the clouds like her. Amazed that she didn't notice them before, Mami saw that all of the captives were asleep, probably knocked unconscious by the same venom. The captives ranged from Mitakihara Middle School students, to businessmen, to construction workers, to even a vagabond or two. Mami now understood why the stand is called Smooth Criminal; it was really good at kidnapping people.

The veteran magic girl looked for signs of Nagisa and Josuke amongst the bed of captives, but could not find them anywhere. Just then, a man's snoring coming from right beside her quickly caught her attention.

"_*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ* Come on Josuke...let's go to Tonio's…*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*"_

The man was talking in his sleep, and Mami's ears caught mention of Josuke's name amongst the man's unconscious mumblings. Mami studied the man; he looked like a typical macho delinquent and was tied up like the rest of Annie's captives. The man had both grey and black hair, with the black part in the form of a pompadour that was significantly smaller and less over the top than Josuke's. In addition, he had two criss-crossing scars that ran across his face, and looked to be more or less Josuke's age. The man wore what resembled a dark colored school uniform, decorated with a dollar sign insignia on the chest and a yen sign and a dollar sign on the left and right sides of his collar respectively. Upon seeing the money signs on the man's uniform, Mami recalled what Annie told her before she was knocked out.

"_I defeated a stand user at the train station. He wore money signs all over his school uniform, which was really silly."_

The man began to speak in his sleep again. "_*ZZZZZZZZZZZZ* No!...That's my salad...get your own Josuke!...*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*"_

There was no doubt about in Mami's mind; the man was indeed the stand user that Annie was talking about, and he seemed to know Josuke personally. Needing all the help she can get, Mami proceeded to attempt to wake the man up.

"*pst* Hey…" Mami said. Her arms were tied up and so were her legs, but she was still in her magical girl form. She was able to summon a tiny ribbon from one of her sleeves and used it to tickle the man's nose.

"ACHOO!" The man sneezed loudly, but did not not awake from his slumber.

"...啊..." Mami muttered under her breath.

* * *

"Hmmm...I guess I should call Kirika now." Annie said. She de-summoned her stand and proceeded to slide back to the cabin using her ice skates, until she heard a noise that sounded like a sneeze.

Annie whipped her head around to the direction of the sound.

"Eh? What was that? Sounded like a sneeze…" Annie said. "Bah...it's probably nothing. I'm 2000 meters above ground anyway. Could be the sound of a nearby airplane or something…"

Annie walked towards the source of the noise.

"But...I guess it wouldn't hurt to investigate…"

* * *

Mami tried a more brutish tactic to wake the man from his slumber; she began to use her ribbon to bitch slap him.

*WHACK*

"OW! What the fu-" The man yelled now fully awake. He opened his eyes and began to look around in a daze. It took him a while to register where he was.

"...What the f***? Is this s*** cotton candy? Where the f*** am I?" The man said, an expression of puzzlement forming over his delinquent face.

"Hey! Quiet down!" Mami said. She didn't want their captor to find out they've awakened.

"Huh? Who the heck are you?" The man said, turning to Mami. Without warning, a muscular, robotic looking humanoid with a bucket-shaped head materialized beside him. This must be the man's stand, Mami thought.

"Are...are you the user of the stand that attacked me at the station!?" The bucket-headed stand raised its right hand above Mami's head.

"Wha-? No! No I'm not!" Mami said. The stand's hand retreated.

"Oh...really?" The man sounded unconvinced.

"Yes! Trust me! I'm an ally! You can call back your stand!"

"Oh….well if you say so….HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! You said「stand」! You can see my「The Hand」? You really are the stand user!"

The bucket-headed stand's right hand shot forward in a arching pattern, but luckily it was slow enough for Mami to get a couple of words in before the attack connected.

"No! Honestly I am! I'm a friend of Josuke's!"

"Eh?" The man stopped his stand a second time, just inches away from Mami's face. "Did you say「Josuke」? What's your name kid?"

"My name...my name is Mami. Mami Tomoe…"

"Mami?" The man pondered on that name for a second. "Hmmmm...Josuke did mention a girl called Mami. Said something about her bein' a magical girl and all, thought I didn't fall for it."

"Say…" The man eyed Mami's magical girl outfit. "Why are you in cosplay? Is there a convention in town?"

"This isn't cosplay...this is my magical girl uniform. I really am a magical girl."

The man's face remained blank for a few seconds. Mami thought the man's brain had exited from his head, until the man broke his silence.

"Okay...how much did he「pay」 you?"

"Huh?"

"Josuke...how much did he offer you to put up with this「charade」?"

"What?"

"Look kiddo, I know you're not a real magical girl. You're just pretending…I may be dumb but I ain't that dumb."

"I-I'm not! Look!" Mami moved the ribbon she used to slap the man awake. The man stared at the ribbon as it snaked back and forth from Mami's sleeve. "See? This ribbon is part of my magic. That's why I'm able to control it as such. "

The man's expression turned blank again. "That「ribbon」 is your「stand」 isn't it?"

"...Come again?"

"Oh geez, you remind me of Mikitaka! Except, you're a stand user who thinks she's a「magical girl」, instead of an「alien」!" The man began to nod his head in disbelief.

_This guy...thinks my ribbon is a stand? _Mami thought.

"Well...since you seem to be okay...and we're both trapped in the same predicament...I guess I can trust you…" The man said. "You said your name was Mami right?"

"Y-Yes…"

"I guess it's fair I should give you mine...my name is Okuyasu Nijimura...and this is my stand 「The Hand」..." The man said. The bucket-headed stand raised its right arm and swiped at the string that tied its user down. "And no s***y string can keep me trapped!"

As the stand's right hand swiped across the string, the string disappeared, gone as if erased from existence itself. Mami was glad that seconds ago she was able to convince Okuyasu that she wasn't an enemy, or her head would have disappeared like the string. She was slightly taken aback by the stand's amazing power.

"And now that I'm free..I..." Okuyasu paused mid-sentence, as his victory was short lived. He didn't think his plan through; he had freed himself from the only thing tying him to the cloud, or in other words the only thing preventing him from falling to the ground below.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Okuyasu screamed, as he plummeted to his doom.

"OH NO!" Mami screamed. "YOU IDIOT!"

* * *

"...Eh?" Annie said. First she heard a sneeze, and now she heard what sounded like a man and a woman screaming.

"The hell was that?"

She was only a few feet away from the body of clouds that masked the multitudes of people she has kidnapped. She quickened her pace.

* * *

Okuyasu nearly pissed his pants. He opened his eyes to see that he was floating upside down in a body of clouds.

"Eh? Oh...my...God...I've died and gone to heaven!"

"...I rescued you, you moron!" Mami said. She was dumbfounded at Okuyasu's stupidity.

Okuyasu turned around to see that there was a yellow ribbon tied around his ankle. The girl had catched him in the nick of time.

"Oh...s*** that was close! I owe you one kid!" Okuyasu said, wiping off beads of sweat from his protruding brow.

"Damn...「she」 must have planned this out!" Mami exclaimed.

"...「She」? Who the heck is「she」?" Okuyasu said, still hanging upside down.

"...Her name is Annie...she's the enemy stand user who trapped us and those other people like this." Mami said. "She must have known about your ability to erase things...so that's why she tied us in this way!"

"...I'm not following…"

"...We're tied on the underside of the clouds, facing downwards. If you destroyed the string that's imprisoning us, we'll all fall to our deaths!"

"...Damn it! Are you serious? I'm gonna beat the s*** out of that-"

A shadow loomed over Mami, catching her off guard. She craned her head upwards and ,through the thickness of the cloud vapor, was able to make out the silhouette of a girl with hair in the shape of a spider.

_Oh crap, its her! _Mami thought.

"Hey, you alright? You look like you're frightened by something." Okuyasu said. He was completely oblivious to the situation at hand.

"Shhhhh!"

"Shhhh?"

"Shut up!"

"Huh? why?"

"The stand user! She's right above us!"

"Eh? WHERE IS SH-" Before Okuyasu could finish his sentence, Mami's ribbon wrapped around his mouth. She didn't want to get caught by the enemy simply because of the idiot she is forced to work with. The silhouette lingered above the two for a few seconds, and then disappeared. Annie has left the premises and Mami breathed a sigh of relief.

Until she noticed that Okuyasu has freed himself from her ribbon and disappeared.

* * *

"Hmmmm...I guess that really was nothing…" Annie said as she made her back to the cabin.

"_Hey bitch!"_

Annie turned around to the source of the voice and saw that the man with the dollar signs on his uniform has freed himself somehow and was now standing on the web of strings, facing her. She was mildly surprised that Okuyasu Nijimura could have accomplished such a feat.

"Oh...its you…" Annie said.

"I finally remember! You're the one who attacked me at the train station!" Okuyasu said angrily. He shook his fist in the air. "Ha! Betcha didn't think I would use my「space erasure」 abilities to「teleport」myself here without falling!"

"Impressive...and here I thought you were an idiot."

"'THE HAND!'" Okuyasu yelled. The Hand quickly appeared at the beckoning from its master, and charged at Annie with its right arm raised. It swung its arm straight down towards Annie, intending to erase her in half. But Annie didn't even flinch; the Hand's right arm suddenly stopped.

"W-What the hell!? I can't move my arm!" Okuyasu exclaimed. The Hand struggled to move its right arm, as if some other force was holding in place. Okuyasu focused his vision on his stand's arm and saw multitudes of thin fiber-like threads were coming out of it. The roots of the thread were either invisible or non-existant, as if they were made out of the very air.

"Your stand is powerful, I'll admit…" Annie said. "But all of its power is concentrated in its hand. If I can stop the arm that the hand is attached to, then I have nothing to worry about."

Okuyasu stood dumbfounded. He poured all his energy into trying to force his arm to move but to no avail. Annie began to walk closer to him.

"Usually I don't like telling people about what my stand does. However, I'll make an exception for you...since you are an idiot.…and will be dying very shortly."

Annie called out her Smooth Criminal.

"The string doesn't come from my stand." Annie explained. "Rather, my stand's ability...is to increase the 「viscosity」 of air."

The word viscosity completely went over Okuyasu's head. "The f*** does that mean!?" He still was trying to move his arm.

"It means my stand can increase the「hardness」and「strength」of the surrounding air, essentially hardening it to the point of being solid. The strings you see are simply hardened air…"

"T-The air itself is where your string is coming from!?"

"Yes…" Annie said. Smooth Criminal reached out with one of its four, clawed hands and swiped at emptiness. Soon, that emptiness was replaced with an array of air-string. The string continued to manifest at tremendous speeds, getting longer and longer at a blink of an eye, until it impaled Okuyasu's leg.

"GAHHH!" Okuyasu screamed.

"As for my「venom」...that is just hardened air of a different caliber…" Annie said. Her stand grasped at the newly formed strings, and a blue liquid began to travel down the length of the strings towards Okuyasu.

"My「venom」 is air hardened one hundred times…albeit in a「smaller form」. They become denser than normal molecules which, once injected into a 「living organism」, will travel up its bloodstream until it reaches the brain…"

Okuyasu felt his leg go numb as the blue liquid proceeded to travel through the veins in his legs throughout the rest of his body. His body began to tremble, when his arm suddenly begin to move. But the arm didn't move the way Okuyasu wanted; it was bending backward towards his own face.

"At that point...the「venom」will interfere and block off acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter..."

Okuyasu ignored most of what Annie said and instead glanced over at his stand in panic; the Hand's space erasing arm was imitating Okuyasu's and was bending backward. Using its freed arm, the Hand quickly grabbed ahold of its right arm, to prevent it from erasing its own head. But the arm continued to move against its will and was beginning to overpower the rest of the stand. Okuyasu began to sweat; he was about to erase his own head.

"Let me translate that for you in idiot terms...that means I have complete control of your body and mind! You should have let yourself fall to your death! Instead, now you'll be killed by your own stand's ability!" Annie said. She began to laugh maniacally.

_Damn it! _Okuyasu thought. The Hand's right arm was inching closer and closer to its face. _S***! If only Josuke, or at least another stand user was here! I'm f***ing done for!_

In the midst of his despair, Okuyasu saw a golden ribbon tied to Annie's right ankle. The girl has yet to notice it, for she was too busy laughing at her victory.

_That ribbon! That's the girl's_「_stand_」_! But that's strange...that ribbon looks different from the one earlier...its gold instead of yellow… _Okuyasu pondered to himself, as the ribbon disappeared.

* * *

"O-Okuyasu?"

Mami couldn't explain it; she was witnessing Okuyasu about to cleave his own head off. No longer was she seeing the clouds of people surrounding her; she seemed to have been teleported to another place entirely. What was more, the magical girl could hear Annie's voice, but could not pinpoint where the enemy stand user was, despite the source sounding extremely close by.

_What am I seeing? Is this a hallucination?_

A small, light crumb bouncing off of Mami's brow snapped her back to reality; she was again in her original surroundings, with tied up hostages and cumulus clouds on all sides. Mami glanced around to see where the crumb came from, since it was out of the ordinary for crumbs to be falling on top of her at two thousand feet above ground level.

_What was that? Was that rain? Or maybe hail…"_

The first crumb was followed by another, and then another. Tiny crumbs continued to fall onto Mami's brow and shirt. She glanced down at her chest to see what the crumbs were; they were yellow and had a reflective quality. But as she studied the crumbs, she realized something that caught her by surprise; she was no longer in magical girl gear, but instead in her school uniform.

_W-When did I transform back? _Mami thought. Another, more terrifying thought came into Mami's mind. _Wait a minute...those yellow crumbs...they...they can't be my-_

But the veteran magical girl didn't have time to dwell on her thoughts; a dark shadow appeared before her. It was Annie's stand, Smooth Criminal. It was suspended from above with string like Spiderman and was glaring directly at Mami from five feet away.

"I knew it…" The stand spoke with a distorted version of its master's voice. "That bumbling buffoon couldn't have freed himself...with enough of my venom, his brain should have forced his body to sleep for a while. Someone must have woken him up. Josuke and Nagisa aren't here. Therefore, there is only one person here who could have helped him out...a person who is more durable than a human ...a person who is unrestrained from her body…and has 「magic」 at her disposal."

Mami gulped. She was found out all because of Okuyasu's rashness and stupidity. He could have waited until Mami came up with a plan instead of going off on his own and denying any opportunities for a sneak attack. It was too late now, and Mami was in a pickle.

"Huh...I don't know why you would transform out of your magical girl form. But regardless...you and that imbecile have proven to be quite troublesome…more troublesome than expected...looks like I'll just have to kill you instead of bringing you to Oriko-sama."

Smooth Criminal raised its clawed arms and lunged forward at Mami, intending to do what it should have done in the beginning; taking Mami's head off. All Mami could do was close her eyes and wait for the inevitable.

But the inevitable never came.

"_**TIRORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORO~! TIRO~!"**_

The unexpected sound of a screaming voice that vaguely resembled her own prompted Mami to open her eyes again. She saw that Smooth Criminal was never able to complete its attack; it was severely beaten up, with its arms bruised, face contorted, and uniform ripped. It was dangling in the air, having been tangled in its own string in a horrific mess. Something has put Smooth Criminal through the grinder, but Mami didn't know what. Until she thought back to the voice she heard seconds ago; it was coming from above her.

Mami glanced upward and saw a sight that she would have never expected to see in a million years; her soul gem was floating by itself in the air. That alone by itself would have been bizarre enough, but what really caught Mami's attention was the fact that a semi-muscular yellow arm was sticking out of it. The hand of the arm was rolled into a fist, clutching what looked like a piece of black cloth. The dots connected in Mami's head and she figured out that the cloth the arm was clutching belonged to Smooth Criminal's; the arm saved her life.

Mami could barely register what was happening before her, when her soul gem completely shattered without warning. Bits of shrapnel hit Mami lightly and caused her to flinch. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the creature whom the arm belonged to; it was a feminine humanoid wearing a light green dress with ruffles on the rim of the skirt and a red pocket in the center. A large yellow circular, frilly headpiece sat on the creature's head. Half of the creature's face was covered in a white helmet with three vertical-orientated crimson ovals as its central design. The humanoid had yellow arms and legs that were colored with green and white stripes; it had a bowtie at the center of the collar of its dress and two long ribbons were coming out of the entity's fluffy shoulder pads, blowing in the wind. Written on the strange creature's headpiece was the word「SUPERSTITION」.

"Goddamn it! Your「stand」 hatched! I was worried this was going to happen!"

Smooth Criminal freed itself from its entanglement, and was licking the bruises on its arms with a purple tongue.

_My...stand? _Mami looked back at the yellow/green creature levitating beside her. _That...thing...that hatched out of my soul gem...is my stand?_

"I was planning on keeping you sedated with large quantities of my venom until Oriko could indoctrinate you into our ranks...but it seems I underestimated you! I didn't use enough venom!"

Smooth Criminal pointed a clawed finger towards Mami.

"These wounds are punishment for my mistake! I will now destroy both you and your pitiful stand!"

Mami felt something tightening around her throat and body; the string she was tied with was getting tighter. Her body was feeling the pressure as the life was slowly squeezed out of her. She felt like she was being painfully caressed by a boa constrictor on steroids.

"I've increased the viscosity and buoyancy of your bonds! The pressure will crush you like an egg!" Smooth Criminal goaded. The monstrous, spider-like stand leapt back as Mami's stand charged forward and began a barrage of punches.

"_**TIRORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORORO~!"**_

Smooth Criminal dodged every one of the stand's punches by a few inches. Earlier it was caught off guard, but now that it saw it coming, Smooth Criminal had an easier time avoiding the stand's attacks. It summoned more air string and rode them back to the topside of the cumulus clouds, where its master and Okuyasu were.

"「Are you OK?」You look a little blue! Have fun getting crushed you blonde bitch!" Smooth Criminal disappeared from sight. But Mami's stand's attack wasn't completely useless; it managed to tie a golden ribbon around Smooth Criminal's ankle. The other end of the ribbon was tied to Mami's wrist.

A red balloon floated past Mami.

_Huh...some kid must have let their balloon go..._

* * *

Annie took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from her mouth. The beating she took from Mami's stand was painful, but was a good lesson for her to never get caught off guard so easily next time.

"Damn...to think her stand would hatch now of all times...how inconvenient…"

Annie glanced back to Okuyasu, who was still struggling to keep the Hand from erasing its own head. He was shaking and sweating profusely.

"Hey...「are you OK」? You look nervous. You shouldn't over exert yourself like that," Annie said. A grin formed on her lips. "You should just accept your fate and d-"

Annie blinked her eyes; the smile on her face was gone. Okuyasu suddenly turned into a balloon.

"W-What the hell!?" Annie yelled. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief and opened them to find the same strange sight. There was no doubt about it; the struggling Okuyasu was gone, and was replaced by a floating red balloon instead. As she tried to comprehend what was going on, Annie began to notice the environment was changed as well; the large web of hardened air beneath her feet disappeared.

"HOLY-" Annie waved her feet around and summoned her stand to create string to stop her from falling. But she didn't fall; she was somehow floating in place, and it wasn't the doing of her stand. In fact, as she flailed her legs, she could feel the texture of the webbing beneath her feet; she just couldn't see it. It was as if her web, and the clouds that supported it, turned invisible.

Annie felt something beginning to tighten around her throat. Soon her whole body began to feel an overwhelming pressure that was crushing her body. She felt like she was being painfully caressed by a boa constrictor on steroids.

"AAGH! W-WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

* * *

"Oh my God!" Mami exclaimed. "I figured out what my stand does!"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**SMOOTH CRIMINAL**

**(user: Aimi "Annie" Aozora aka Patricia)**

**Stats**

_Destructive power: _C

_Speed: _B

_Range: _A

_Durability: _D

_Precision: _A

_Development Potential: _C

**Abilities**

**Air Hardening: **Smooth Criminal can increase the viscosity and buoyancy of the surrounding air, causing them to condense into solid, string-like structures. The string are stronger than steel, can support the weight of an entire house, and can exert pressure up to 50 pounds per square inch. However, due to their air-based nature, the string are light enough to be tethered to clouds.

**Neurotoxic Venom: **By hardening air a hundred times more than normal, Smooth Criminal can produce a blue liquid venom made of denser oxygen molecules. The venom will travel through the strings and into an opponent's blood stream and enter his/her brain where the denser molecules will interfere with chemical neurotransmitters. The venom molecules can push the individual molecules of neurotransmitters and force opponents to do actions against their will unconsciously.

**Sleep Inducement: **If enough of the venom were to build up, the brain will force the body to go into sleep mode. This ability is useful for kidnapping people and/or attacking them when they are most vulnerable.

**Sky High: **Smooth Criminal has exceptional range, being able to kidnap people from two thousand feet above ground level. As a result, it can be considered a remote stand.


	20. A Ribbon in the Sky Part 3

**Sorry that it took so long to post this chapter. I was busy juggling exams and internship applications, which pretty much ate most of my October. Because of that, this chapter may seem a bit rushed. **

**Chapter 20 - A Ribbon in the Sky part 3**

* * *

_The witch of dress-up. _

_She has an_「_inviting_」_nature._

_A kind-hearted witch who dreams of ideal things. _

_This witch can't_ 「_stand_」_being_「_lonely_」_, _

_and never lets _「_visitors_」 _to her barrier_「_escape_」_._

* * *

_S***! I can't breathe! Is this the power of her_「_stand_」_!?_

Annie struggled to break out of the invisible grip that was crushing the life out of her, but to no avail. She looked up and saw that the red balloon was gone, having drifted far away. Instead, in front of her was now Mami Tomoe's stand, floating in the air.

But the stand was not staring directly at Annie, but rather had its back turned to her. The stand looked around and promptly disappeared.

_What the f- SMOOTH CRIMINAL!_

Annie called out her stand; but her stand didn't appear.

_Huh!? SMOOTH CRIMINAL!_

Annie tried to summon her Smooth Criminal a second time; it was still nowhere in sight.

* * *

Okuyasu flopped to the floor of the cloud, his stand's right hand inching ever closer to his face. He was quickly getting fatigued and losing strength; he could no longer hold back his own stand's attack. Sweat trickled down to Okuyasu's nose, and he closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable.

"SMOOTH CRIMINAL! GET OUT HERE GODDAMN IT!"

Okuyasu opened his eyes at the sound of Annie's shriek. His head was still intact; the string from the Hand's right arm disappeared. Freed from Annie's control, Okuyasu got up and brushed off his sweat, taking a sigh of relief. He glanced towards Annie's direction and saw that the enemy stand user was standing still, stiff like a board with an expression of terror on her face. Smooth Criminal, the girl's stand, continued to materialize and dematerialize in a repetitive cycle. Its user seemed to be oblivious to the presence of both Okuyasu and her own stand, as she stared intently into the empty air.

"...The hell is wrong with her?" Okuyasu said, scratching his head.

* * *

"Why...why won't my stand come out?" Annie yelled.

"It's because my stand trapped you…"

"Eh!?"

Annie instantly recognized Mami's voice and searched around for signs of the drill haired girl. She was nowhere in sight. But wherever the voice was coming from, it felt really close.

"Show yourself you coward!" Annie yelled furiously.

"Oh? But I'm already here…"

"Y-You're stand can turn you invisible?"

"No...to be more accurate, I should have said that you are here with me…"

"Huh?" Annie glanced around but still saw no sight of Mami.

"It seems like you still don't get my stand's「ability」...here let me help,"

Annie's vision changed against her will; she was no longer staring ahead at the clouds but was now glancing down at her body, to find that it wasn't her body anymore. She was no longer wearing her black high school uniform but donned a light colored Mitakihara Middle School uniform. A wisp of blonde hair, tightened into a curl, blew across the edge of Annie's vision as she felt wind breeze past skin that wasn't hers.

"W-What the hell is this?" Annie was stumped to the strange phenomenon unfolding behold her. But she soon connected the dots in her mind.

"Y-You...you...you swapped my 「point of view」!"

"Exactly...so you've figured it out. But that's not the only thing my stand can「stand」

Annie realized the voice was coming from near her own mouth, though it was more accurate to say it was coming out of Mami's. She was seeing and hearing everything Mami did.

"My stand can also 「share」 my 「feelings」with you...so to speak. Including...the feeling of being crushed by your own strings!"

"Goddamn it!" Annie yelled. Her pain increased as the string tightened around Mami.

At Annie's beckoning, Mami was released from the string.

* * *

Okuyasu approached Annie slowly. The girl was still distracted and was in a daze, making Okuyasu's approach go unnoticed.

_I don't know what the hell is going on with this girl...but I better take my chance!_

The Hand appeared in front of its master a couple of inches away from Annie. It raised its right arm towards the paralyzed girl. But instead of planning to erase her into bits, Okuyasu simply intends to knock her unconscious.

"THE HAND!"

The Hand brought down its elbow towards the back of Annie's head; it missed and hit empty air. Whatever invisible force held Annie in place seemed to have dissipated. The girl tumbled to the ground without warning, hitting against Okuyasu's knees and causing him to fall over.

"Aaaagh!" Okuyasu yelled.

Annie, coming out of the daze, turned to face Okuyasu. Calling out Smooth Criminal, Annie grabbed Okuyasu by the collar with one of her stand's many arms.

"You!" Annie yelled.

"Eh?" Okuyasu said.

"You...what's her stand's weakness!?"

Okuyasu deduced she was talking about Mami. "How the hell am I supposed to know? Stands are like your asshole! You don't go around showing it to ever-"

Okuyasu felt his body tighten; billions of invisible air-thread wrapped around his body like a sheet, preventing him from moving.

Annie got back up on her feet. Her gaze was cold and calculating. A rumbling noise filled the air. Okuyasu had an ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Fine...if you won't talk…" Annie said. The tone of her voice was solemn, but with undertones of malice. She was planning something big. "I'll just flush your friend out...by using 「Smooth Criminal - Thriller」."

"Smooth Criminal...Thriller?" Okuyasu was puzzled. "You have two stands!?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Annie scoffed. "Thriller is simply a sub ability. I just discovered how to use it a week ago…"

Annie turned her back to Okuyasu. For no apparent reason, the girl raised her right arm and began snapping her fingers. Okuyasu did not notice anything strange until the fifth snap; every time the girl snapped her fingers, a slight motion broke the surface of the clouds. Something was moving underneath.

"The ability to switch P.O.V's...it's a dangerous ability no doubt. But it is meaningless against 「Thriller」." Annie said, ceasing to snap her fingers.

"Is...that so?" Okuyasu said. The Hand appeared behind its user. "Let's see if it can do anything about erasing space!"

The Hand's gargantuan strength ripped apart the bonds that was holding Okuyasu back. Annie didn't heed him any attention; her back was still turned and was undefended. Okuyasu took the chance to attack.

"THE HAN-" Okuyasu stopped mid-sentence, as his collar was grabbed by a hand behind him. Okuyasu's eyes and mouth widened in shock as he turned around to something completely unexpected.

"...Josuke?"

A pink fist flew out and punched Okuyasu square in the face.

"Aaaagh! What the f***!" Okuyasu held his bleeding nose. Wincing in pain, he looked up to see that it was indeed Josuke; his outdated hairstyle was unmistakable. However, everything else about him was peculiar; his eyes were blank and foam was at his mouth. Okuyasu focused his vision and saw thin, thread leading into Josuke's ears. They were colored blue from venom.

"Yoshikage Kira you bastard!" Josuke growled. He was pointing at Okuyasu. "I won't let you escape this time!"

"J-Josuke? The hell is wrong with you man!"

Annie smiled. "This is the power of「Smooth Criminal - Thriller」,"

* * *

Mami used her stand's ribbons to swing amongst the clouds, having been released from Smooth Criminal's grip. One of the first things Mami noticed about the ribbons that her stand produced, besides being the catalyst for her new power, was that they were more durable than her previous ribbons and can carry more weight. But not wasting time in admiring her new ability, Mami used her stand to tether the ends of the ribbons to the feet of Annie's many unconscious victims who were dangling from the clouds, allowing her to swing across the clouds with ease. She quickened her pace when she heard Okuyasu's scream.

Suddenly one of her ribbons was cut.

"!?" Before Mami could react, her stand's arm was grabbed by a strong force which proceeded to yank both stand and user through the vapor of the clouds. Before the magical girl knew it, she was on the other side of the clouds.

"Huh?" Whatever yanked Mami through the clouds to the upper side relinquished its hold. Mami picked herself up and searched around for signs of whatever grabbed her.

Her eyes fell on a silhouette of a figure slightly shorter than her. It was a little girl with white hair wearing a pinkish red polka dot dress, her face obscured by shadow. Even with the girl's face obscured however, Mami immediately knew who she was; it was Nagisa Momoe.

"N-Nagisa?" Mami said. She breathed a sigh of relief after realizing her friend is well and okay. "Glad you are alr-"

Mami was unable to finish her sentence as the relief she felt just moments earlier disappeared. Nagisa raised her head; her eyes were blank, and her mouth was twisted into a wide sinister grin. Blue string were sticking out of her ears.

"Nagisa!?" Mami said with shock in her voice.

"OH BOY! I LOVE PARMESIAN!" Nagisa yelled.

"Eh? Parmesian? Where?" Mami said.

Nagisa's Ballroom Blitz appeared behind its user.

"Nagisa...what are you…"

Nagisa's stand charged at Mami; the suddenness of her friend's attack caused Mami's own stand to manifest and defend its user.

"_**TIROTIROTIRO!~"**_

Mami's stand punched Ballroom Blitz several times, but all the blows did was cause it to flinch slightly. Ballroom Blitz grabbed Mami's stand, restraining its arms with its monstrous strength. Mami realized the dire predicament she was in; her stand's ribbons might be stronger than her previous ones, but her stand itself was weak compared to Nagisa's.

What happened next gave Mami a sense of terrifying déjà vu: Ballroom Blitz opened its mouth wide and Mami's stand gazed into its maw in terror.

"OH BOY...I LOVE PARMESIAN…"

***CRUNCH***

* * *

"The f*** Josuke! It's me goddamnit!" Okuyasu yelled. It was unclear if Josuke ignored his friend's words or simply couldn't hear them, as he sent forth Crazy Diamond.

"You're gonna get yours Kira!" Josuke yelled. Crazy Diamond grabbed Okuyasu by the back of his collar. Having no choice but to defend himself, Okuyasu summoned forth his The Hand. Not wanting to kill Josuke, the Hand elbowed Crazy Diamond in the face, causing both stand and user to fall back.

"Damn it Josuke! What the hell has gotten into you!"

"Nice try Kira! But your stand hit me with its elbow! Everyone knows Killer Queen can only turn people into bombs with its hands!" Josuke said.

"Kira?" Okuyasu was perplexed. For some reason, Josuke was mistaking him for Yoshikage Kira, the serial killer they defeated a few years ago.

Okuyasu turned to Annie, who was standing and smiling behind him. She had the air of someone who has achieved assured victory.

"You! You did this!" Okuyasu yelled.

"Gee, that took you long enough to figure out." Annie said, crossing her arms.

"Is this...is this the power of your Thriller?!"

"No duh you idiot." Annie scoffed.

"_**DORA!~" **_

Distracted, Okuyasu was punched right across his cheek and sent flying. He put his hand over his bruised face and looked up to see Josuke.

"Get up Kira! Call out your「Killer Queen」!"

"The f*** Josuke! I ain't f***ing Kira!"

"It's no use…" Annie said. "It doesn't matter if you「are」this Kira person or「not」. Under Thriller...I can「control」「any」 person I put to「sleep」...by 「manipulating」 their 「brain chemistry」with my「venom」. This causes them to lucid dream anything I want."

"Wait...he's asleep?" Okuyasu turned back to Josuke. Now he knew why his friend's eyes are blank; he was and still is unconscious. "Y-You can create sleepwalking zombies with your stand's ability?"

"Damn right…" Annie said. "And as long as he dreams you are Kira, he will attack you as such!"

"I see…" Okuyasu said.

Okuyasu sprang to his feet. He called his stand which put up its fisticuffs.

"Oh please…" Annie said. "As if you'd attack your frien-"

The Hand delivered a powerful kick to Josuke's face. The force of the blow caused the wind to part and Josuke to fly several meters backwards and land on his back.

"...Eh?" Annie was dumbfounded. She did not expect Okuyasu to attack his ally like that. "What the Hell!? You'd attack your own friend like that!?"

"Of course...I figured if I beat him up enough, I can wake him up. And besides, I can bring his ass to a hospital later…" Okuyasu said.

But to Okuyasu's dismay, his plan has failed; Josuke, with a bloody nose, got back up and his eyes were still blank. Annie began cackling with laughter.

"You idiot! As long as my venom is circulating within his brain, he will never wake up unless I say so! All you succeeded was delaying the inevitable!"

"Ah s***!" Okuyasu yelled.

"Go Josuke! Attack Oku...I mean Kira!" Annie yelled. But strangely, Josuke stood still. Though his eyes were blank, the menace from his face was gone. Instead, he looked dazed and confused, mesmerized by the empty space in front of him.

At first, Annie was worried that Okuyasu's idiotic attack actually managed to relinquish her control for a moment. That was until she heard what Josuke said next.

"What the Hell...Kira turned into「Parmesian cheese」!"

"...Huh?" Okuyasu and Annie exclaimed in unison. It took a second for Annie to glance down and notice the gold ribbon that was tied around Josuke's ankle before a force tore its way through the cloud vapour behind her.

"_**TIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIRO!~"**_

Mami's stand appeared out of nowhere and blew away Annie with a wall of fists, cracking her glasses in the process. The girl flew past the sleepwalking Josuke and landed on the floor of the cloud with such impact that the cloud vapors in that area dissipated, leaving only the array of string that held the entire cloud formation and the cabin together.

Annie was still reeling from the blow; she sat up trembling from the unexpectedness of the attack. The frames of her glasses were severely damaged; crumpled as if it was made of paper. Her forehead was bleeding.

"I-Impossible!" Annie said. "My「Thriller」 zombies would have flushed you out!"

Mami dug her way out of the cloud and was now standing on Annie's web. Her stand was floating behind her, its arms crossed. Sunlight shined on Mami's head, revealing that her left curl has disappeared, seemingly removed, or eaten, by something.

"So we finally meet face to face again…" Mami said. Her gaze was fierce.

A little girl crawled out of the clouds to Mami's right. She wore a polka dot dress and had a similar ribbon tied to her ankle like the one on Josuke; it was Nagisa Momoe, still under the effects of Smooth Criminal - Thriller. However, as Nagisa dug herself out to join Mami, Annie saw that it was actually the exact same ribbon; one end was tied to Nagisa while the other was tied to Josuke.

"I don't know how, but you used 'something' on Nagisa to make her think I was cheese. Luckily I heard Okuyasu get his ass kicked by something up above…"

"...Hey!" Okuyasu grunted.

"...So I wrapped my ribbon around the ankle of whoever the attacker was to swap the P.O.V. of Nagisa with the P.O.V. of the assailant. Of course, I never expected the assailant to be Josuke…"

"T-Then that …" Annie said. "That's why Josuke sees cheese! But...but what does that brat Nagisa see?"

"David Bowie-san...wait!" Nagisa piped up. She had the excited look of a fangirl plastered across her face. "I'm your biggest fan! I don't know why you transformed from cheese, but can I have your autograph!?"

"...I don't believe it…" Annie said stupefied.

"Alright! You did it!" Okuyasu beamed.

"Well Annie...are「are you OK」?" Mami said.

Annie stood up; to Mami and Okuyasu's surprise, she did not have a single sign of panic across her face, despite her being outnumbered. The girl took off her damaged glasses and threw them away; she pulled out a second pair from her uniform and put them on.

"Of course I'm OK…" Annie said. Menacing, rumbling sound effects began to permeate the atmosphere. "I was just surprised they didn't wake up yet…"

"Wake...up?" Mami said. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember what I said earlier?" Annie said. "I said specifically 'My「Thriller zombies」 should have taken care of you."

"So?" Mami said. "You were talking about Josuke and Nagisa right?" She pointed to Nagisa, who was still talking about David Bowie, and to Josuke who was still clueless and scratching his pompadour.

"No...I wasn't talking about them...I was talking…"

Almost as if on cue, a thousand figures appeared behind Annie, having entered from beneath the clouds. The figures varied greatly; some of them were construction workers and businessmen, while the others were old people and even some Middle school students. But they all had one thing in common; their eyes were all blank.

"...about them…" Annie finished her sentence. Mami's eyes widened in shock and Okuyasu's jaw dropped.

"W-Where did they come from?" Okuyasu stuttered.

"Oh come now...you must have seen my kidnappees. Did you really think I'd kidnap all thosepeople for no reason?" Annie began to boast.

As she raised both her arms, her sleepwalking zombies did the same. She swayed from side to side with her arms still raised, imitating Michael Jackson's signature dance; her zombies did as well. She put her hands onto her knees, and the zombies copied her every move. Okuyasu and Mami were now the outnumbered ones.

"...Oh crap…"Okuyasu said. He turned to Mami. "Kid...you got any ideas?"

"...I have one idea…"

"Eh? What is it?"

"Its something that I learned a few weeks ago…"

"A few weeks ago? Will it work?"

"I don't know...but we should try." Mami braced herself. "Follow my lead…"

"Alright!" Okuyasu said enthusiastically.

"RUNAWAY!"

"Eh?"

Mami picked up Nagisa and bolted towards the direction of the only shelter in sight: the cabin in the center of the web. Momentarily caught off guard by the girl running, Okuyasu quickly followed suit, and so did the zombies at the beckoning of their master. Josuke, still confused by his dream of Yoshikage Kira turning into cheese, simply stood where he was.

"Hee hee hee," Annie said to herself. _Run to the cabin you idiots, that'll just make you die sooner!_

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**RIBBON IN THE SKY**

**(user: Mami Tomoe)**

**Stats**

_Destructive Power: _C

_Speed: _A

_Range: _A

_Durability: _C

_Precision: _B

_Development Potential: _B

**Abilities**

**P.O.V. swap: **Through the ribbons it creates, the stand can switch the point of view of whatever or whoever is attached on one end of the ribbon with whatever organism is attached on the other end. Not only does a target's vision get swapped, but all other sensations (i.e smell and taste) can be swapped too.

**Sharing my feelings: **The stand can also swap the sense of touch, allowing to user to swap "feelings" and even injuries. For example, the stand can attach a ribbon to a person who is burning and then transmit the pain of burning to someone else.

* * *

**SMOOTH CRIMINAL - THRILLER**

A powerful sub technique of Smooth Criminal, not unlike White Album's Gently Weeps or Purple Haze Distortion. By pumping more venom into victims that have already been reduced to sleeping, Smooth Criminal can cause them to lucid dream. The user then can control the sleeping victim and turn him/her into a "sleepwalking zombie". The user cannot give direct commands to the sleepwalkers and is forced to manipulate their brain chemistry so they move accordingly to whatever dreams they are having.

* * *

**Author's notes: **If I am slow to update the next time, I am probably busy again. I finished this chapter just as I got out of my "busy season" at school. It was a pretty stressful and depressing month, so it took me a while to muster the will to write. I'll try to stick to updating at least once a week, but with internship applications, potential interviews, and exams coming up, there's no guarantee. Sorry again for making you guys wait. I am thankful for all the followers and readers who are enjoying this fic and who are patient enough to put up with me and my schedule.


	21. A Ribbon in the Sky Part 4

**Disclaimer: Please DO NOT try that "bleach" thing at home. It is very dangerous.**

**Edit: I fudged up Annie's Witch codename. It should have been Patricia. My bad. **

* * *

**Chapter 21 - A Ribbon in the Sky Part 4**

"Close the door!" Mami yelled.

Okuyasu slammed the door shut and locked it. Mami, Okuyasu, and a still hypnotized Nagisa were now trapped in Annie's cabin, flanked by Thriller zombies on all sides. The three were in a predicament that grew more dire by the second.

ss

"...Now what?" Okuyasu said in a panicked tone. "We're trapped! We got nowhere else to go!"

Annie's sleepwalking minions began to pound on the wooden walls of the cabin exterior. The loud thudding grew louder and louder. The floor began to shake.

"W-What the hell? Now there's an earthquake!" Okuyasu yelled.

"No!" Mami replied. "It's the「Thriller」zombies! They're shaking the cabin!"

The thudding reached a fever pitch and the combined strength of Annie's Thriller army was enough to cause the cabin to sway back and forth. Okuyasu was knocked to the floor and Mami struggled to keep herself balanced while holding on to Nagisa.

"What the f***! They're going to tip this place over!" Okuyasu screamed.

Mami frantically looked around for a way to get out of the predicament that she and her friends were in. She saw vases getting tipped over and chairs being thrown to the floor, but she could not see anything of use. She saw Okuyasu struggling to get himself up only to trip again and hit his head on the wall. Ideas rushed through Mami's mind but the magical girl turned stand user found herself unable to formulate a plan out of them.

That was when the rumbling and the shaking stopped.

"Eh?" Okuyasu sat up and rubbed his forehead. "Did they just stop? What a bunch of lazy ass zombies."

Ignoring Okuyasu's banter, Mami caught sight of what looked like mist coming from the nearby kitchen entrance. Okuyasu followed Mami's line of sight and his eyes fell upon on the same cloud of mist.

"O-Okuyasu…" Mami said.

"Eh?"

"You remember seeing a fog machine in this cabin?"

"Er...no?"

* * *

Annie smiled a sinister smile outside the cabin. She called off her Thriller zombies, save for Josuke who was still dreaming and in a state of confusion.

"_Whoever this_「_Elly_」_person is, I have to thank her for giving me that recipe…" _Annie thought to herself, as she remembered the bleach and toilet cleaner she picked up at the supermarket. Out of all the Witch Tarot, the Elly stand user was the most mysterious and reclusive; no one save for Oriko herself and Margot knew her true identity. Annie remembered a rumor that Elly's stand worked best when the user was absent from the battle, which could explain her reclusiveness . As to why Elly chose to send Annie a recipe for deadly chlorine gas was anyone's guess. Regardless, Annie put that recipe to good use and placed cleaning supplies inside her cabin.

Cleaning supplies that was now mixed together after the shaking of the cabin caused the bottles to mix together after falling from the shelf and into a bucket.

"Hey...is that a bottle of bleach?" Okuyasu said.

A white bottle rolled across the floor towards Mami and Okuyasu, and the two plainly saw it was labeled「KUBO BRAND EXTRA STRENGTH BLEACH」.

"It...it is bleach. But why would there be blea-" Mami suddenly thought back to a story that Sayaka Miki and Madoka Kaname told her about; about a witch who possessed a group of people and forced them to create a batch of toxic fumes that would have killed them all. And one of the ingredients for the poison that nearly murdered dozens of people was bleach. Mami glanced at the mist coming out of the kitchen entrance and she put two and two together.

"OKUYASU! GET AWAY FROM THAT MIST!"

"Huh?"

"That's mist...it's poison!「Annie」must have set this trap for us!"

"S***! What are we gonna do!?" Okuyasu yelled. He glanced to Mami; his expression of panic was temporarily replaced with an expression of confusion.

"Hey...where was that little girl with you?"

"Huh?" Mami looked down and saw that Nagisa was gone from her grasp. A dark shadow loomed over her and she could not turn around in time before two small arms grabbed her in a choke hold.

"Oh s***! It's the girl! She's gone crazy!" Okuyasu yelled.

_No! My ribbon ran out! _Mami didn't realize it at first, but when Okuyasu closed the door shut, she didn't see the door close on her ribbon, which means the ribbon placed on Nagisa and Josuke had to have disappeared. Dragging Nagisa into the cabin must have caused the ribbon to have breach its length limit; her point of view was no longer swapped with Josuke's.

"_YOU THINK YOU COULD ESCAPE FROM ME CHEESE!?" _Nagisa yelled. She began to nibble at Mami's head. Mami flailed about as the little girl proceeded to chew away at her hair. But Mami stopped in her tracks as she saw the mist has began to fill three quarters of the room they were in.

To her surprise, Mami saw that Okuyasu was completely calm and staring at the toxic vapor which was only a few inches away.

"Okuyasu what are you doing!?" Mami said. She couldn't believe Okuyasu's stupidity. "Didn't I tell you that was poison!?"

"Oh I know…" Okuyasu said.

"Then...then why are you just standing there staring at it?" Mami said dumbfoundedly while Nagisa continued to chew her hair.

"It's because...I can do this…"

Okuyasu called out The Hand and in one clean swipe eliminated a third of the poisonous vapor. The stand did not cease its attack on the toxic air, and swiped away at the cloud until the space where the poison was held was quickly eliminated. The Hand continued to erase space until the bucket that held the deadly mix of cleaning materials flew out of the kitchen towards him and was destroyed with a swipe.

"See? Poison-shmoison...my stand can handle-"

Flecks of blue liquid flew straight into Okuyasu's eyes, causing him to scream and flinch.

"GYAHHHHHHH!"

"O-Okuyasu!" Mami yelled.

Okuyasu did not just erase a cloud of poisonous mist; he also erased the「string」that was hidden by the mist. The real trap was not the deadly gas created from the cleaning materials, it was the venom that was now in Okuyasu's face as a result of breaking the string they were held in. Okuyasu screamed as the venom began to seep into his pores.

_Annie...she thought this all out! She placed the string there, hidden by the mist, knowing that Okuyasu's stand could easily destroy it! But his space erasure also caused the venom inside the string to fly towards him! _Mami thought frantically. That was when she noticed the weight on her head that was chewing on her hair was gone.

Mami looked down and saw that Nagisa was free from Thriller's control; her eyes were no longer blank and she rubbed them as if coming out of a dream. The inside of Nagisa's ears were tainted blue. Mami quickly found out what happened; Okuyasu must have erased the space between himself and Nagisa accidentally while he was destroying the cloud. When the space closed itself again, the resulting air current must have pulled out the venom from Nagisa through her ears. It was a needlessly complicated and nonsensical possibility, but anything is possible in a world of stands and magic.

But Mami had to make sure.

"...Nagisa…" Mami said to the little girl.

Nagisa looked up at Mami.

"Oh! Hi Mami-senpai! I just had the greatest dream! I met talking cheese and David Bowie! Say...where are we now?"

"You're not gonna believe this...but we're in a cabin...in the sky."

"Pffft…that's silly..." Nagisa scoffed.

"It's true! We're in the clouds!"

"Mami please…" Nagisa said with a sly smile, pointing to the window. "If we're in the sky, then what are those people doing out there then?"

Mami glanced to the window and saw pairs of blank eyes staring back at her. The Thriller zombies were back, congregating to the cabin in flocks.

"...Hey wait a minute...I've seen this before in a movie somewhere," Nagisa said.

The Thriller zombies proceeded to pound on the windows of the cabin, breaking some of them . The zombies began to force themselves through the broken windows, scratching themselves on bits of glass in the process.

"Oh crap...I remember what movie it was now," Nagisa said.

"Eh?" Mami replied.

"It...it was the「Night of the Living Dead」…"

"...You have strange tastes for a little Japanese girl."

A rumbling noise came from near Mami's direction; it wasn't the zombies that were making it. Mami turned to see that Okuyasu stopped flailing about and was standing eerily silent with his back turned to her. He was as still as a mannequin.

"O...Okuyasu…?" Mami said.

At the sound of his name, Okuyasu turned around and Mami's jaw dropped. His eyes were blank like the Thriller zombies'. The venom that seeped into his pores earlier now caused him to be under the full effect of Thriller.

"Grghggrghhh…." Okuyasu growled, sounding more animal than man.

"W-Who the Hell is that!?" Nagisa said, having seen Okuyasu for the first time. Hearing Nagisa's voice, Okuyasu snapped around and attacked her.

The Hand rushed out of its user and swung its right hand towards Nagisa. Ballroom Blitz quickly appeared and blocked The Hand's forearm. The two stands were roughly equal in strength and were locked in fearsome combat, with neither one backing down. However, as strong as Ballroom Blitz was, The Hand's user was rendered senseless by Thriller and thus did not feel any fatigue; Ballroom Blitz soon found its strength waning while the Hand continued to bring down its hand towards Ballroom Blitz's clownish face.

"C-Crap!" Nagisa cursed, when a yellow fist flew into the side of Okuyasu's head.

"_**TIROTIROTIRO~!"**_

Mami's stand sent Okuyasu flying into the nearby couch. She couldn't just stand around and wait to see Nagisa's head disappear. Hopefully, Mami thought, Okuyasu will forgive her once they escaped Annie's wrath.

"Thanks for the save Mami-senpai...but what the heck are we gonna do about those guys?" Nagisa said.

The rest of the Thriller zombies were swarming near the window openings, struggling to squeeze themselves in amongst their brethren.

"What do we do? Do we beat them back?" Nagisa said.

"No! We can't...they're innocent people!" Mami replied.

Some of the zombies finally successfully pushed past their brethren and began to crawl inside the cabin towards the two girls. They numbered in the dozens.

"Wait…" Nagisa said. " I have an idea"

"_**MOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGUMOGU~!"**_

Ballroom Blitz proceeded to dent the floor with its huge fists. Pieces of wooden debris flew everywhere as Nagisa's stand pounded the floor endlessly.

"Nagisa…" Mami said, dodging a dislodged plank. "What are you doing!?"

"I'm making...an escape route!"

A large gust of wind found its way into the room. At first Mami thought it was a breeze from outside, since they were in the sky after all. But after seeing the remains of the damaged floor littered with polkadots that were peeled off from Ballroom Blitz's skin, Mami realized that wasn't the case. It was a breeze that reminded her of the incident at Mitakihara General Hospital.

"We're going...to jump into these black holes…" Nagisa said.

"WHAT!?" Mami yelled. "Are you crazy?"

"Well…you have any other ideas?"

Mami could not think of any; the only alternative was to get torn apart by the Thriller zombies.

"Screw it." Mami said. She and Nagisa dived headfirst into the holes just as they activated.

* * *

"...The Hell is taking Thriller so long to destroy them?" Annie said, glancing down at her watch. She was meters away from her cabin, which was in the midst of being destroyed by her army of sleepwalking minions. She was content with losing her cabin, since it didn't even belong to her anyway; it was a vacation cabin belonging to a famous mangaka. She stole it by using Smooth Criminal to fish it out of the ground using string. The mangaka was too busy researching old folklore stories in the nearby forests to notice.

Annie was waiting impatiently for Thriller to finish off her opponents, when she heard a voice come from behind her.

"_That's a nice watch you have there…" _The voice said.

"...Why thanks…" Annie replied, not turning back.

"_It's too bad you won't be able to tell time on it…"_

"Eh? Why not…" Annie tapped her watch. "It looks like it still works fine to me."

"_Your face...that is…"_

"Eh? Well that doesn't make any sense at al-"

As Annie turned around, two fists of different color landed straight into her face, sending her a few feet away. Landing with a loud thud, Annie coughed some blood. The force of two simultaneous surprise stand punches broke Annie's second pair of glasses into pieces.

"Well...well...well...if it isn't「Patricia」'" Nagisa said. She stood beside Mami. Both girls had their stands floating behind them, and they were all bearing down on the injured Annie.

"P-Patricia?" Annie replied, spitting out additional blood as she spoke. "Who the Hell is that? And...how did you two escape!?"

"It's simple…" Nagisa explained. "Black holes can store large amounts of matter in a single「point」. I placed a「dot」no bigger than a dime inside one of your「string」and it was carried by the air current until it reached your location. Then I placed a few black holes on the floor of your cabin, which we used to escape into the black hole that was behind you."

"Essentially...we tunneled our way out." Mami said. "And now we're going to beat the crap out of you!"

Annie was silent; her elaborate trap had failed to ensnare Mami and her previous victim, Nagisa, was free from her stand's venom. She discarded her ruined pair of glasses and pulled out another. The stand user slowly got up to face her two opponents. The atmosphere was thick; Nagisa and Mami did not believe they had secured victory yet. They were just waiting for Annie's next trick.

"Well well well…" Annie said, putting on her third pair of glasses. "Looks like you overcame「Thriller」…"

"Doesn't matter what you do now," Mami said. "With this close of a range, me and Nagisa will easily beat you down."

"Looks like its pay back for that sneak attack earlier!" Nagisa said with a smile. The little girl cracked her knuckles together.

Annie slumped back down to the floor to the surprise of Mami and Nagisa. The enemy stand user breathed a sigh and put her arms down on her sides. She looked exhausted, and had the air of a person who could not fight anymore. Mami and Nagisa did not let their guards down; Annie's change of demeanor only caused them to be more on edge.

"Damn...looks like I'm in a corner…" Annie said.

"You've got nowhere to escape." Mami said. "Free the others and we'll let you go."

"Speak for yourself…" Nagisa chimed in. "I think she needs some teeth missing."

"Wait...what did you say earlier?" Annie said.

"...That you need some teeth missing?" Nagisa said.

"No...no what did _you_ say?" Annie said, pointing to Mami. "You said...I have nowhere to escape?"

Annie began to laugh to the surprise of the girls. "Hee...hee...heee."

"W-What are you laughing about?" Nagisa said. "Don't you realize we have you cornered?"

"Cornered?" Annie said. "Only「things」 on the「ground」can be cornered. But have you forgotten...we're in the skies?"

Before Mami and Nagisa could say anything, a large rumbling noise resonated throughout the clouds. The rumbling was getting louder by the minute, and the clouds began to shake violently. The sleepwalking Thriller zombies, who were still busy tearing apart the cabin as a result of their dreams, fell to the floor having been knocked off balance by the turbulent movements of the clouds.

"W-What the Hell is this!?" Nagisa said.

"Looks like…" Annie whispered. She stood up resolute amidst the tremors and looked towards Mami and Nagisa.

"Looks like...my ride is here…"

A large shadow loomed over Mami and Nagisa. It was the shadow of a Boeing 707 airliner, tearing itself out of the clouds and flying over Mami and Nagisa's heads. The low grumbling of the engines caused the vapor of the clouds to part everywhere the plane went. Large gusts of wind blew from underneath its wings. This was Annie's getaway vehicle; an entire plane commandeered by Smooth Criminal's string and piloted by zombie pilots under Thriller's influence.

"WHAT THE HELL...SHE HAD AN ENTIRE PLANE HIDDEN UP HERE!?" Nagisa yelled, her voice barely audible over the roar of the engines.

"NAGISA! WATCH OUT!" Mami yelled. Nagisa turned around only to see Annie's foot planted into her face. Smooth Criminal appeared behind its master, carrying its user with two arms as she leapt up, and using its remaining two arms to create air-string that latched onto the doors to the plane's cabin.

"SO LONG SUCKERS!" Annie mocked. She dragged herself up and opened the door to the plane's cabin and promptly escaped inside. Mami and Nagisa stared in disbelief as the plane flew farther and farther away.

"Damn it!" Nagisa swore. She grabbed at her hair. "How the Hell did she pull an airplane out of the clouds!? There's no way we can catch up with that...even with my Ballroom Blitz! What are we gonna do now Mami?"

When Mami did not respond, Nagisa looked over to see that she was gone. The little girl searched around and saw a figure clinging to the side of the plane; it was Mami Tomoe. Without Nagisa noticing, Mami shot forth her stand's ribbons and wrapped around the wing of the plane and was subsequently dragged along for the ride. Mami brought herself to the door to the cabin and opened it, about to confront Annie inside.

* * *

Annie relaxed herself in first-class. She breathed a sigh of relief, having escaped from Nagisa and Mami. In the cabin with her were several businessmen and stewardesses with blank eyes, dreaming as a result of Smooth Criminal's Thriller ability. The passengers on the plane went about their business as if nothing happened, dreaming as if they were on a normal plane ride that wasn't hijacked by a ex-magical girl and her witch-like stand. Even the pilots, who were also under Thriller's effect, were dreaming they were simply making a routine trip to Mitakihara airport and not providing a getaway vehicle for Annie.

"Anything to drink miss?"

Annie turned around to see a busty stewardess pushing a cart of refreshments. The stewardess's eyes were covered by blonde hair underneath her cap.

"Sure...why no-" Annie immediately recognized something was amiss. "Hey wait a minute! You're not under Thriller's ability!"

A large, almost robotic, yellow arm reached out of the snack cart to strike at Annie. Smooth Criminal materialized and parried the blow.

"Y-You're…!" Annie stuttered.

The yellow arm was soon joined by the rest of the body; a strange humanoid with a large circular headpiece, a peppermint visor, and a green dress came out of the cart, floating out like a phantom. The stewardess removed her cap to reveal two curly drills, one of which was slightly nawed.

"Mami...Tomoe!" Annie gulped. She did not expect Mami to follow her into the plane.

"_**TIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIROTIRO!~"**_

The wall of fists succeeded in only hitting empty air; Annie reclined the seat she was on in the last second and was able to avoid all of Mami's stand attacks. Not wasting a chance to counter, Smooth Criminal shot forth its claws, managing to scratch the arms of Mami's stand. Mami, feeling the pain transferred from a stand for the first time, flinched in pain and surprise.

"SMOOTH CRIMINAL! TEAR HER HEAD OFF!" Annie yelled. Smooth Criminal registered its master's command and sent forth a single monstrous hand towards Mami's face.

"_**TIRO!~"**_

Mami's stand delivered a kick to the side of Smooth Criminal's stumpy face. Annie, whose right cheek was distorted from the blow, was knocked into the dining tray on the adjacent seat.

"Give it up...I won't let you escape this easily... " Mami said, her eyes giving off an intense glare.

"Hmmmph…" Annie grimaced. Her lips formed a scowl. "Come on then...what are you waiting for?"

Mami realized that Annie was too stubborn of an opponent to reason with; she had no choice but to beat her unconscious. But just as she was about to attack again, Mami suddenly found herself exhausted for no apparent reason. Her vision became slightly blurry and her breathing became erratic.

"W...W...W...h...a….t….w-what is….this?" Mami said, gulping between each word.

"Are you「OK」?" Annie said. "You look like...you are out of breath…"

Mami looked around and saw that there were layers of string on the ceiling of the plane's cabin. The string weren't being used as weapons nor did they have Smooth Criminal's venom flowing between them. In fact, they were doing nothing but hanging from the ceiling, and their vividity was less than that of Annie's normal strings.

"I've turned most of the air in this plane's cabin...in this「enclosed space」..into hardened string. Your oxygen levels are low!" Annie gloated. "Luckily for me...the air closest to my skin and orifices are still breathable!"

Mami struggled harder and harder to breathe. That was when she was grabbed from behind by the plane passengers. The Thriller-fied passengers restrained Mami, forcing her down on to the floor.

"Hee hee hee," Annie said. A sly smile formed across her face. "Looks like I win this round. I'll have my Thriller zombies trap you until you「suffocate」to death...unless you are「content」 with 「harming」these「innocent」people with your stand?"

Mami struggled to move; she did not want to harm the very people she promised to protect back when she contracted to become a magical girl. And the sheer number of people holding her down was too much to fight, even with a stand, considering the lack of oxygen in the plane cabin and the fatigue that was quickly spreading across Mami's body.

"N...No…" Mami muttered.

"Well...have you finally admitted defeat?" Annie said bemusingly. "Are you bemoaning your coming demise?"

"No...it's not that!" Mami shouted frantically.

"...Come again?" Annie was confused.

"It's...it's my「hair」!"

"...Huh?" Annie was further confused by Mami's words.

"I didn't realize this at first...but my hair is ruined! It's all chewed up! And I spent hours every morning to get them into the perfect shape!"

Annie almost facepalmed herself. The girl in front of her was surrounded by sleepwalking zombies and was about to suffocate to death, yet all she could think about was her hair.

"Are you an idiot?" Annie yelled. "Who cares about your「_**STUPID HAIR **_」?"

At Annie's outburst, Mami began to smile. She was no longer panicking but seemed composed, as if an event just happened in her favor. Annie noticed her grin.

"What...what are you smiling about?" Annie said warily.

"...Oh it's nothing…" Mami said. The smile on her face got wider. "It's just...I was「hoping」 you'd say「something」like that…"

Annie studied Mami curiously and saw a golden ribbon tied around the girl's ankle, a ribbon that escaped Annie's notice, having been covered by the zombies.

"T-That「ribbon」! When did you tie that「ribbon」?" Annie asked.

"When you were「distracted」by our stands trading blows." Mami answered.

"But...but where is the other end attached to!?"

"My...「secret weapon」...a 「secret weapon」 that was 「activated」 the moment you talked about my「hair」…"

"Secret...weapon?"

The plane suddenly began to shake violently, causing Annie and the zombies to roll around. The glass window behind Annie shattered into pieces.

"_**DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!~"**_

* * *

"I don't believe it…" Nagisa remarked to herself. "Mr. Josuke...he broke free from his trance and caught up to the plane! And downed it by turning the engines and the wings back into the raw metal they were before!"

"WHAT THE HELL!? IMPOSSIBLE!" Annie yelled. She pushed herself back to avoid Crazy Diamond's punches. Josuke Higaskihata's eyes were no longer blank; his face was filled with rage and animosity. An entire wall of the plane was torn apart and discarded like a piece of tissue paper, the handiwork of Crazy Diamond. The other end of the ribbon that was tied to Mami was wrapped around Josuke's sleeve.

"I used my ribbon to allow Josuke to see what I was seeing and hearing. And unfortunately for you Annie, he thinks you just said his hair was crappy. Not even your Thriller can control Josuke once he's heard an insult to his hair."

"No no no!" Annie yelled. The Thriller zombies let go of Mami and shambled towards Josuke at Annie's command. As soon as they reached him they were all pummeled away by Crazy Diamond's fists.

"_**DORARARARARARARARA!~"**_

The Thriller zombies were sent flying all across the first class cabin.

"H-Hey! He's injuring those innocent people! How can you let him do that!?" Annie frantically yelled. She was sure Mami would never let innocent bystanders get hurt.

"His Crazy Diamond can heal people," Mami answered nonchalantly. "Why would I be worried?"

"...啊!" Annie screamed. Josuke turned his attention to the girl who he believed to have insulted his hair.

"YOU! WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY HAIR!?" Josuke roared.

"S-Smooth Criminal!" Annie called out for her stand, which was immediately punched aside by Crazy Diamond. Smooth Criminal might have stopped Josuke the first time, but once in rage mode, Josuke cannot be stopped.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊!" Annie yelled, as Josuke grabbed her by the collar of her school uniform.

"H-Hey...now…" Annie said. She had a sheepish grin on her face. "You...you wouldn't hit a girl with glasses would you?"

"No...I wouldn't…" Josuke replied.

Annie breathed a sigh of relief.

"...but my stand would…"

Annie's eyes widened at the implication of Josuke's words. Fear seized her body.

"啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊!~"

"_**DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!~"**_

"Hey Annie...are you「OK」? Mami said. But Annie was certainly not okay.

* * *

Nagisa rushed to the wreckage of the plane and saw two people come out; a pompadoured man and a drill haired girl.

"Oh! You guys are okay!" Nagisa beamed.

"Oh...hey Nagisa…" Josuke answered. Josuke was carrying an unconscious and severely bruised girl slumped over his shoulders; it was Annie and she was still alive, though beaten to a pulp.

"Oh...w-what happened to her?" Nagisa said, pointing to the unconscious Annie.

"Oh her? I might've...gone a「bit」 overboard…" Josuke said. "I think it'd be best if she stayed unconscious for now. Less troublesome that way. I'll heal her once I drop her off at the SPW office."

"Ah...okay…" Nagisa said. "But...how the heck do we get down?"

"Mmmm…" Mami said, surveying the clouds. Despite Annie being unconscious, the air string was still in a sturdy and hardened state. "Looks like once she hardens air, it stays hardened…looks like we won't be falling anytime soon."

"Good…" Josuke said. "We can stand here and I can repair the plane that I broke. We can get down that way. I'll convince the pilots to drop us off. It looks like they were coming out of a long nap."

* * *

SPW MITAKIHARA OFFICE - 2:30 PM

"Yare yare...you're telling me this girl kidnapped a whole bunch of people and turned them into sleepwalking zombies?"

"Yeah…that's the gist of it."

Josuke was informing Jotaro about what happened, and about Annie's stand abilities. The girl was brought to the SPW office set up by Jotaro in Mitakihara town, and was recovering in a cell beside Hanako Kimura.

"Yare yare...looks like there's stand users popping up everywhere in this town...and I still don't know what happened to my men."

"Say..where's that Homura girl?" Josuke said.

"Oh her?" Jotaro said. He took a sip of the coffee that was on the table. "I deputized her as a SPW officer."

Josuke drank his coffee, and then spit it out right after. "WHAT!?"

"Eh...why not?" Jotaro said. "I need some eyes and ears in this town anyway. She seemed really good at that sort of thing from what she'd told me."

"Jotaro...don't you think that was kind of a rash decision? She's only in middle school!"

"...It worked for Koichi didn't it?"

Josuke dropped the issue. He almost forgot Koichi was deputized as well. If he could be a SPW officer, anyone can. It seems there was no arguing with Jotaro when appointing staff.

"Say…" Jotaro said. "Did you happen to run into Okuyasu? He was supposed to be in town by now?"

"Okuyasu?" Josuke replied. "Nope. Haven't seen him at all…"

Mami and Nagisa were on their way back home, having been dropped off by two very confused airplane pilots at Mitakihara airport and saying goodbye to Josuke at the SPW office.

"Hmmm…."

"What is it Mami-senpai?"

"I just can't shake this feeling that we've forgotten something…"

"By the way Mami-senpai...what are you going to call your stand?"

"Hmmm…" Mami pondered. "How about...「Ribbon in the Sky」?"

"Eh...I don't know...sounds a bit little bit too long…"

"Oh come on...as if「Ballroom Blitz」is any better…"

* * *

ANNIE'S CABIN - 5:30 PM

Okuyasu woke up after what felt like a hour long nap. He scratched his back and gave off a big yawn. As he came to, he saw that he was on top of a wooden platform surrounded by sleeping people. The clouds around him were tinted red from the setting sun. It seemed Okuyasu was here for a long time.

"...Why am I still here!?" Okuyasu said to himself. "Where the heck is Josuke and that blonde chick!?"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

**Aimi "Annie" Aozora a.k.a Patricia: Status - Beaten within an inch of her life by an enraged Josuke Higashikata/retired.**

**Okuyasu Nijimura: Status - Finally rescued along with the rest of Annie's victims by a SPW helicopter hours later. **

**Kyubey: Status - Still at the pier**.

* * *

**Author's notes: **I wasn't sure if I was gonna put the disclaimer at the beginning of the chapter because I trust in the good folks at this site to have common sense and logic. However, even if that is the case, I don't want some random internet person to get any terrible ideas from a fanfic of all things. And if a man is willing to actually shave himself with peanut butter on the internet for entertainment...well...let's just say I felt more comfortable putting the disclaimer on. Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

With regards to this chapter, I'll probably spend a few days overlooking it to make sure I've corrected any mistakes I didn't catch. This chapter was kinda rushed as well in my opinion.

Anyways, I think this is the longest chapter yet. Recently I've been struggling to rekindle my desire to write, but it has been difficult with internship recruiting and other events going on. Luckily my workload has lightened and I feel myself getting back into the groove of writing. Can't wait to show you Elly's stand.


End file.
